Mobile Suit Gundam 00: Wings of the Master
by Raikouga
Summary: It has been 4 years since the end of Operation Fallen Angels. As the A-Laws eliminate a Katharon jailbreak attempt, a shadow from the past reveals itself. Amidst the confusion a discarded soldier takes flight on the injured wings of a captive bird. R
1. Prologue

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Gundam 00, just my Original Characters.

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_"Celestial Being, a paramilitary organization whose sworn objective is to eliminate all conflict by means of armed intervention with their advanced mobile suits called "Gundam". They first appeared when the Advanced European Union was showcasing their newest mobile suit, the Enact. The unit GN-001 Gundam Exia descended from space and quickly dispatched the Enact while sparing the pilot, meant as a warning to the world superpowers. Exia subsequently traveled to the AEU's orbtial elevator in Africa, where it's presence forced the military to reveal to the world that they had stored illegal numbers of mobile suits in the elevator's hangars. Three more Gundams subsequently revealed themselves, one on Earth to support Exia (Gundam Dynames) and two in space to thwart a terrorist attack on the orbital ring (Gundam Kyrios and Gundam Virtue). A pre-recorded video was then played across the world. In it, a man identified by some as Aeolia Schenberg announced the existence and purpose of Celestial Being. The world had mixed feelings regarding the group. The Human Reform League brushed them off, swearing to it's populace to do everything possible to bring Celestial Being down. The President of the Union lamented that Celestial Being had taken the role of "World Police" that the United States had thus far held. They, along with the AEU, promised it's people that any interventions involving their member nations would not go unpunished. Some simply ridiculed the fact that the end contradicted the means. In the end, however, one thing was clear: in order to erase conflict and unite the Earth, Celestial Being would have to become the enemy of the world. After several successful interventions, a few close calls, and one crippling betrayal, the world would finally strike back."_

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**Mobile Suit Gundam 00: Wings of the Master**

**Prologue****  
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"Operation Fallen Angels was a complete success. Celestial Being was destroyed and we even managed to capture one of their machines."

The man speaking was Chinese in full United Nations Forces regalia, in his late 40's and with gray hair streaked with white. He turned his head towards the young man who was walking at his side down the hall, bringing his battle-scarred face into full view and pointed his finger at him.

"You're being assigned as it's test pilot. Don't disappoint us."

The young man's black hair fell around his eyes as he angled his head to momentarily stare towards the steel gray floor. His gaze was not lost on his superior. He kept his voice level as he asked, "Does the news not suit you?"

The young man's gaze only lingered on the ground for a moment before he looked up, facing his superior with his gray eyes, and saluted.

"I won't let you down, Admiral Zhao."

"Good. Now, follow me. You must be itching to see you're new charge."

Admiral Zhao turned back around and continued walking until he came across a large set of solid steel double doors. He reached over to the keypad next to the door and punched in a code. The door slid open and the admiral motioned for his subordinate to go first.

"I'll take my leave of you now. The Chief Engineer will brief you on the rest."

Inside the hangar was a mobile suit that had clearly seen better days. It was being held up via cranes hanging from the ceiling, a measure necessitated by the fact that it's right arm and leg were missing. Every inch of it's white and orange painted body was covered in nicks, scratches, dents, and other marks that told a tale of a hard-fought battle. The young man's gaze went to the machine's head, which had miraculously escaped with minor damage, confirming what the admiral had just told him. The v-shaped fin on the forehead and the construction of it's face immediately identified the mobile suit as a Gundam. After staring at it, the young man decided that something about it seemed familiar.

He gave it a few more looks over, trying to place just what about this machine stirred his memories like it did. Upon looking at the Gundam's remaining leg and seeing it's winged shin, something in his mind clicked. Everything suddenly fell into place, and a memory from a past long-gone came flying to the forefront of his mind. His draw dropped open as he whispered, "I... I don't believe it..."

The Chief Engineer picked that moment to announce his presence.

"Yeah, it's quite the piece of machinery isn't it?"

Slightly startled, the young man simply nodded at the chief standing behind him and quickly turned his face back towards the Gundam to hide the expression of utter shock and awe on his face.

_After all this time... I never thought we'd be reunited under circumstances like this..._

He look up and gazed intently into the Gundam's eye.

"Celestial Being, huh? I wonder... Is humanity really ready to inherit this?"

* * *

_It has been four years since the end of Operation Fallen Angels. Celestial Being has disappeared. Their organization lies in ruins, their advanced mobile suits called "Gundams" shattered, and three of their four pilots either dead, captured, or MIA. Following this, the United Nations was reorganized into the Earth Sphere Federation. Also, in order to prevent the necessity of Celestial Being's armed interventions against any and all conflict, the ESF created the Autonomous Peace-Keeping Forces, or "A-Laws". In the present, an A-Laws battlegroup is in space, warding off an attempt of the anti-government organization "Katharon" to liberate their comrades when a shadow from the past reveals it's presence and intervenes; the angels have descended a second time. Amidst the confusion a discarded soldier releases a captive bird, taking flight on it's injured wings._

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**Author's note:** So, here we go! Gundam 00 (pronounced: _"double_-_oh,"_ for those unaware): Wings of the Master has now kicked off. Here are a few more details that aren't in the actual prologue for those who aren't familiar with Gundam's _Anno Domini_ timeline.

_Union of Solar Energy and Free Nations_: Sometimes shortened to "World Economic Union" or more commonly just "the Union," this power bloc is composed of the Americas, Australia and Japan. The President of the United States is the Union's effective leader and still holds the reins from the White House. It controls the first completed of the three orbital elevators, located in South America. The mobile suit that forms the backbone of their military is the Flag (based on the AEU's Hellion mobile suits).

_Advanced European Union_: Typically called the "AEU," this world power is composed of Iceland, the islands of the Barents Sea, Greenland, Anatolia, most of the traditional continent of Europe as well as Turkey and Palastine. It's orbital elevator is located in Africa and is the only one of the three elevators that remains incomplete. Ironically, it controls no nations in Africa. It's staple mobile suit is the newly-introduced Enact (based on the Union's Flag mobile suits).

_Human Reform League_: Usually shortened to "HRL," this bloc contains China, Russia, India, Bangladesh, the nations of South Asia (with the exception of Afghanistan and Pakistan), Mongolia, the member states of the ASEAN, Timor Leste, Papua New Guinea, the Korean Peninsula, and Taiwan. It controls the second of the completed orbital elevators, located off the coast of Australia. It's mainstay mobile suit is the Tieran, though it's design is bulky and visibly outdated when compared to the Flag and Enact.

Note that there is a noticeable gap in mobile suit technology at the start of the series when comparing a contemporary mobile suit to a Gundam. This is handily demonstrated in the first 5 minutes of the first episode wherein the Exia completely and utterly disassembles the Enact within seconds, managing to finish the job before the Enact's pilot can even finish bragging and smack talking.

Also, Admiral Zhao is indeed a reference to... well... Admiral Zhao. Yes, **that** Admiral Zhao.


	2. Chapter 1: The Angel's Second Advent

**Author's Note:** I should point out that a portion of the dialogue here was modified from what it was originally. Considering that this is an altered continuity, I think it's safe to say that not ALL dialogue will be the same anyways. Modified dialogue _will_ stay close to what it originally was. Also, this was written under the assumption that the reader has seen the series. As such, some details from the show will go unmentioned, but will still happen (i.e Setsuna rescuing an erroneously imprisoned Saji from automatons in the high-grav ring).

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**Chapter 1: The Angel's Second Advent**

A young man moved swiftly through the halls of the A-Laws battlecruiser, making his way back up to his quarters. Those he encountered while on his way quickly moved aside so as to not get in his way. After what seemed like an eternity, he finally arrived at his door. He quickly disappeared inside, glancing behind him as the door closed. Once inside, he moved over to the full-body mirror propped up against the wall and took stock of his appearance.

He currently wore black knee-length boots, dark green pants, white gloves, and a dark green trench coat with the A-Laws insignia emblazoned on the left breast. It was the standard A-Laws uniform, and it was loose enough to hide his athletic build beneath the folds of cloth. The only detail that set him apart from others were the captain's bars pinned to his collar. His black hair was of short/medium length and hung down around his gray eyes. His brows were furrowed into a scowl, an expression that had set in as his default face for some time now. He focused on his eyes for a moment, gazing with such intent that if his reflection was a separate person, someone walking in would think that a pair of Asian twins were staring each other down. After breaking eye contact with himself, he briefly gave himself another once-over and nodded in approval before going over to his locker. He was about to open it when his personal terminal began to beep urgently. He looked over at the screen to see that someone was contacting him via the priority line.

He reached down and pressed a button. The terminal's screen lit up to show the face of the older squad captain the young man would be accompanying today. The young man spoke first, producing a voice deeper than most would expect from someone like him.

"Captain Barack Zinin, how may I help you?"

"We're launching soon. Get over to the hangar and prepare for launch. Remember, your job is to stay back unless we need to hit them psychologically."

"Understood, Captain," was the response. He chose not to point out that both men were of equal rank, not to mention the fact that the young man was, unlike his counterpart, a licensed officer. While he was on mission he was free to dictate his own actions.

Captain Zinin shrugged and closed the line, but not before not-so-quietly muttering, "Damn licensees..."

The young captain simply shook his head and quietly chuckled to himself as the communication cut off and his screen died. He proceeded to open his locker and pull out the standard A-Laws space suit, colored the same as the uniform: dark green with black gloves, boots, and helmet. He changed swiftly, lingering momentarily on his captain's bars, which he left pinned to the collar of his uniform as he stowed it in his locker. He grabbed a slender object about sixteen inches in length and slid it into his belt before he grabbed his helmet, tucked it under his arm, and floated out of the door.

The trip down to the mobile suit hangar was fairly uneventful. The majority of people he passed on the way down were various crewmembers of the ship. He simply ignored them until he reached the hangar, noting that Captain Zinin and his squad had already launched. Most A-Laws grunts, like those of Zinin's squad, piloted the GNX-III, affectionately known as the "Jinx Three". Officers like Captain Zinin piloted the new "GNX Ahead" mobile suits. The young captain, however, had access to something a little more unique. Years ago, he had been assigned as it's test pilot.

* * *

Captain Zinin and his squad had launched from the carrier no less than two minutes ago, and they had already spotted their target. An old Virginia-class carrier owned by the anti-government group Katharon had smashed into the hangar of the Proud space colony. Their mission was likely to liberate members of their group who were currently being used for labor in the high-gravity section. Currently, the gravity-generation ring for that section was offline.

_They probably hacked the system and activated the reverse-thrusters..._

Currently, that wasn't his problem. The carrier had deployed mobile suits to intercept Zinin and his team. He scoffed. The units had been the premiere mobile suits of their time, but that was five years ago. These were the very same mobile suits that had been so effortlessly outclassed and outgunned by Celestial Being and their damnable Gundams. Just one of his three-man squad would be more than enough to take out the thirty or so Flags, Realdos, and Tierans.

Zinin raised his Ahead's beam rifle at a Flag and fired. It's pilot attempted to dodge, but his outdated mobile suit didn't respond fast enough. The orange beam connected with the cockpit, simultaneously vaporizing the pilot and striking the Flag's power supply. The mobile suit instantly detonated in a brilliant explosion. Not losing any momentum, Zinin took aim at the carrier's broad and unarmed top. He fired twice, watching as his shots pierced the bridge and the engine block. Like his previous target, the carrier quickly exploded into a massive fireball.

"Lieutenant Aragga, engage the rest of the suits. Warrant Officer Halevy, wait here and keep an eye out. I'll deploy the automatons and begin the live-combat evaluation."

Zinin watched as Aragga took off in a cloud of orange particles. Zinin swung his mobile suit towards the colony, flying along it's width until he found what he was looking for.

"I've reached the target area. Deploying automatons."

He pressed a button on his console and watched as a small container on the back of his unit detached and activated it's thrusters. He continued watching until the container flew straight into an open airlock and skidded to a stop on the ground. Zinin pressed another button as a small screen appeared, showing the layout of the high-grav block. Multiple little dots appeared labeled "ATM1" all the way to "ATM16". Zinin keyed in his microphone.

"Beginning live-combat evaluation."

In his mind, Zinin saw the automatons activating. Unassuming 7 foot tall hexagonal pillars suddenly waking up as their optics began to ominously glow bright red, launching into the air and unfolding into their quadruped stance, landing and speeding off on wheeled feet. They're AI had been set to kill, and since these were still prototypes they would not distinguish between friend or foe. All workers had been forewarned to evacuate should automatons be deployed in their area.

After finishing the deployment, Zinin turned and looked around.

Aragga had already mopped up the opposition and had taken position next to Halevy. Zinin moved to join his squad and continued to track the automatons as they spread out and into the colony. By now, the automatons had racked up several kills apiece. The trend didn't look like it was going to change anytime soon.

After several minutes, there was a beep as an automaton's signal was replaced with "LOST". Zinin shrugged it off. The AI had probably misjudged a jump and landed in a smelting furnace or something. A few minutes and four more automatons disappeared from the map. He grunted in annoyance. This could no longer be an accident.

Aragga's GNX-III pointed off towards the colony. "Captain, what's that shadow?"

Zinin looked and quickly identified what the lieutenant was talking about.

_Green particles..._

"These GN particles would be -"

Before Zinin could finish speaking, there was a beep as every automaton around the colony reported in as lost, one after the other.

"The number of automatons is dropping..."

"Captain, above us!" Aragga's warning was punctuated by a grunt as something white and blue suddenly swooped down, catching him off guard and severing his suit's arm at the shoulder. There was a burst of green particles as the thing sped along the length of the colony before sharply pulling up and swiftly turning around to face them.

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Louise Halevy's eyes went wide as she whispered the name of her family's killer.

"Gundam..."

The one in front of her had clearly been poorly maintained. It's left arm was missing, the stump covered by a ragged sheet that reached down to the unit's waist. Various bits and pieces of the armor were also missing, but the most obvious damage was to the head. The entire right side of the face had been destroyed, and the normally green eye that had been lost had been replaced by a ominously glowing red one, probably taken from a Tieran. The sight was actually rather frightening.

Louise slowly began to hyperventilate when her head suddenly exploded into excruciating pain. She grunted as she gripped the sides of her helmet, trying to keep herself under control while involuntarily curling into the fetal position in the cockpit.

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Captain Zinin bared his teeth as he engaged the Gundam. He opened fire only for the Gundam to dodge his shots.

"Too many of our comrades were killed by you! I'm going to..." he drew his beam saber and charged, meeting with what was left of the Gundam's arm blade. "Return the favor!"

The communications line came alive. The Gundam's pilot spoke in a low voice, controlled, but still seething with anger.

"I'm going to destroy... Simply destroy... The bastards like you who do things like this!"

Zinin scoffed. He assumed the Gundam's pilot was speaking of the 14 armed interventions the A-Laws had performed. Each and every one of those interventions had happened because nations refused to join the Earth Sphere Federation. Every one of those insurgencies had been ground beneath the heels of the A-Laws for world peace.

The Gundam began pushing it's blade harder, eventually forcing Zinin to break and go on the defensive. The blade folded back along the arm, exposing the muzzle of a gun. The Gundam wasted no time and immediately opened fire. Zinin weaved around the shots as he remarked, "Even if it's a Gundam, it's five years old... It's no match for this Ahead!"

A hail of orange beams suddenly assailed the Gundam. Aragga had recovered and had taken the chance to open fire.

"Unit 3, cover him! Unit 3, respond! Warrent Officer Halevy!"

His orders fell on deaf ears. Louise still hadn't regained control over herself.

"Forget it, we can handle this without her! Aragga, do it now!"

"Roger," Aragga responded and hit a button on his console. The words "SIGNAL: SENT" appeared on his console.

Zinin continued fighting. It wouldn't take long before another five year old relic made it's appearance.

He dodged another shot, discarding his gun as he drew a second beam saber and charged the Gundam. Again he met it's broken blade. This time, he pushed down with both of his beam sabers. The Gundam's blade gave way under the pressure, splitting in two at the point of contact between the blades. Zinin backed away and started weaving around as the Gundam resorted to the gun behind the blade again.

As he evaded, his radar began beeping. Zinin already knew what it was, and continued what he was doing without even looking at the radar.

"About time, Winged."

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Setsuna was currently not in a good position. His poorly maintained Gundam Exia seemed like it had finally reached it's limit. He no longer had access to any melee weapons. Six of his original Seven Swords were destroyed when he defeated Alejandro Corner's mobile suit five years ago and now he had lost his last sword. Setsuna specialized in melee combat, and right now he was beginning to regret not taking better care of his only remaining melee weapon. However, even with no swords he refused to go down without a fight. Unfortunately, it didn't look like he'd be able to hold off three of these new mobile suits at the same time.

He growled in desperation as his radar began going off. He chanced a look down and his eyes narrowed.

_This IFF is... Is it really possible?_

Setsuna glared at his front screen. Specifically, he glared at a fast approaching orange light.

"Gundam... Gundam Kyrios..."

It looked almost the same as it had when it was lost five years ago. However, it's right arm had been replaced with something that vaguely resembled a Tieran arm. Setsuna grimaced at the sight. The arm clearly didn't belong where it was. The biggest difference in the Gundam's appearance, however, was the particles. Instead of the green particles of a true GN Drive, Kyrios now dispersed orange particles from a fake, the GN Drive Tau.

Setsuna quickly decided he didn't have enough time to worry about it. The Ahead was coming back, and Setsuna could no longer engage in close range combat. He continued to hail particle beams on the suit as he backed away. While his focus was on the Ahead, the pilot of the damanged GNX seized his chance. Setsuna looked to his side just in time to see the GNX's lance pointing at him, all four gun barrels blazing.

Five years of poor maintenance finally took it's toll as Exia's systems momentarily scrambled and froze up from the impact. The Ahead capitalized on the opening and charged in, bringing both it's sabers down and severing Exia's entire right arm and leg, and the cover that Setsuna had draped over the stump of it's left. He grunted as he lost his final weapon and looked to his side to see the GNX-III charging with it's lance.

Suddenly, an object resembling an orange spearhead connected with the GNX's side. There was a momentary surge of electricity before the GNX exploded. The object burst out of the smoke, flying blunt-end first towards...

_Kyrios?_

Setsuna immediately recognized the object as Kyrios' pincer shield. It reattached itself to it's mount on Kyrios' left forearm as Kyrios dodged around a retaliatory slash from the Ahead, putting itself in-between the Ahead and Exia. It's pilot pointed the pincer shield at the Ahead, as if to say, "_I_ will be you're opponent."

_Could the pilot be... Is it possible?_

* * *

"You _traitor_!"

Zinin was still shocked at the betrayal. His body shook with rage as he threw himself at his comrade, sabers held high for a killing blow with both weapons. He brought them down only to realize too late that Winged was enveloped in a cloud of particles.

_It can generate a GN Field!_

The beam sabers bounced harmlessly off the barrier. Winged quickly counterattacked, lashing out with a punch from it's huge right arm. The blow connected with the Ahead's abdomen, sending it flying backwards. Zinin's eyes reflexively closed as his body thrashed around in the cockpit. He opened them to see Winged bringing it's right arm down in what was probably meant to be a killing blow. Zinin acted quickly, bringing his right saber around from the side. As Winged raised it's left arm to intercept the blow, Zinin brought his left saber up and around, severing his opponents right arm and head in two clean strokes. He quickly followed up with a knee to the abdomen, sending Winged careening backwards before finishing up by plunging both his sabers into the traitor's Gundam before he could recover. The sabers struck mere feet away from the cockpit. Electricity arced across the body of Winged as it ceased to move. He ripped his sabers out of his opponents sides, effectively gutting his suit as he raised his weapons high to deliver the coup-de-grace. Right before he brought his swords down, he noticed something shine bright for an instant out of the corner of his eye. He quickly looked and cursed as he pulled back as fast as he could.

A giant beam suddenly ripped into existence between Zinin's Ahead and Winged, saving the latter. He turned to see a giant white Gundam with gleaming black shoulder-cannons lumbering towards them. It was emitting bright green particles. The Gundam straightened out and deployed the cannons on it's knees as the quartet of muzzles began to ominously glow.

Zinin almost roared his displeasure as he moved to his remaining squadmate.

"Unit 3, we're getting out of here."

No response.

"Unit 3! Damn it!"

He grabbed her suit with and made a beeline for the battlecruiser, evacuating just as a beam even larger than the last one tore through the space that Zinin and his unresponsive subordinate had just left.

* * *

Setsuna watched as the A-Laws suits retreated before he turned back towards his saviors. A voice suddenly spoke in his ears; one that he hadn't heard in five years.

"So you were here after all, Setsuna F. Seiei."

"... Tieria Erde...?"

"Yes. I see you've been watching the A-Laws too?" The purple-haired, androgynous male grinned inside his helmet, happy that his comrade was safe.

"I have. If we're going to discuss something I think we should do it elsewhere."

"Agreed. Head back to the colony. The Ptolemaios will arrive soon."

"The Ptolemy? I thought it was destroyed... I thought I was the last one left!"

"It's been five years since then, Setsuna. We've recovered. We're not at full strength just yet, but we're far from dead."

Setsuna took a moment to consider that statement before saying, "Let's go. There's someone on the colony I need to pick up."

"Of course. Go on ahead. I'll take care of this one," Tieria replied, using his Gundam to point at Kyrios.

In short order, they were back in the airlock where Setsuna had left his old neighbor, Saji Crossroad. He was still there, still waiting, and still in shock that his neighbor was a Gundam Meister for Celestial Being. Setsuna decided to take care of Saji later. At the moment, they needed to take care of Kyrios. He took his helmet off (Tieria had closed the airlock after getting his Gundam Seravee inside) and walked up to Kyrios.

It took a few moments before they managed to get the cockpit hatch open. They were immediately greeted by the sight of technological carnage. When the Ahead had plunged it's beam sabers into Kyrios' abdomen, the proximity of the blades to the cockpit had caused all nearby electronics to explode. The cockpit was now littered with bits and pieces of technology, and at the center of it all was someone wearing an A-Laws spacesuit and helmet with a cracked visor. He made no movement in response to his hatch opening. Curious, Tieria reached out and tapped the stranger's helmet.

"Hey. You alright?"

No response. Tieria reached out, took hold of the helmet with both hands and pulled it off, revealing a head of short/medium length black hair and the face of a young oriental man. He was unconscious.

"It's not him..." Tieria's face turned thoughtful as he looked at Setsuna. "Do you recognize him?"

"No. Do you?"

"No."

After a few more moments of thinking, Tieria looked over his shoulder and said, "I'll take care of him, Setsuna. Go and tend to your guest. He's looking anxious."

Setsuna turned his gaze away from the stranger inside Kyrios and towards Saji. He was back on his feet and had a rather strained expression on his face. Setsuna was about to speak but Saji made the first move.

"Setsuna... Why are you piloting a Gundam? Why are you with Celestial Being!"

There was no response, prompting Saji to jump forward and grab Setsuna's gun from it's holster. Saji quickly backed away, leveling the gun with Setsuna's head. His next words were choked, filled with a mix of rage and sadness.

"You... It was because of you my sister died! It was because of you Louise lost her hand and her entire family! It's _because of **you**!_"

Setsuna's expression remained unchanged. He knew of the attack on Louise Halevy's family, but decided to refrain from explaining the situation. Saji looked like he would snap at the slightest provocation.

"Give them back... _Give them back!__!_"

* * *

Tears flew from Saji's eyes as the memories of those days rushed back into his head. The day he'd opened a bodybag to confirm that it really was his sister, Kinue Crossroad, journalist for the Japan News Network, who had been found dead in an alley. The heartrending sadness and sense of loss at losing his only remaining family member, knowing only that she had been investigating Celestial Being before she died. The day he had flown to Spain when he'd heard that the family wedding Louise had attended was attacked by a Gundam. The moment he had given a forlorn and despondent Louise the ring that she'd so dearly wanted, that he'd worked so hard to buy, only to have her tearfully reveal that her entire immediate and extended family had died and that she'd lost her left hand in the attack. The numbness when Louise, with tears in her eyes, told Saji that she couldn't accept his gift. The sense of complete shock when the doctor revealed that due to the GN particles, regenerating Louise's hand was impossible. And finally, the sense of overwhelming hate and rage at the revelation that his "neighbor with the strange name" was the cause of all his grief. As each of those memories replayed themselves in his head, Saji slowly began to squeeze the trigger.

He stopped short, realizing what he was about to do. He fell to his hands and knees, gasping. He couldn't do it. Even with rage fueling his actions, he couldn't pull the trigger. He couldn't bring himself to cross that line. He surrendered to his sorrow, sobbing hopelessly as he felt strong hands lift him up to his feet and guide him somewhere.

* * *

Onboard the Ptolemaios II, Tieria led Saji into his cell in the brig. Before closing the door, he turned to Saji and asked, "Why didn't you shoot?"

"If I did, I'd be just the same as you people. Nothing but a killer."

"You should really be thanking Setsuna. If he didn't take you here, you would have been executed as a member of Katharon."

Saji vehemently responded, "That's not possible!"

"You know far too little about the reality you live in. Look more carefully at the world around you."

Before Saji could answer, Tieria shut the door, locked it, and walked away. He walked into the hangar where the Gundams were stored. He found Setsuna staring at 00 Gundam, the mobile suit to replace Exia. After staring at it for a few moments, he turned to face Tieria.

"You say we're not at full strength yet?"

"That's right. You and I are probably the only Gundam Meisters who are still alive."

Setsuna's face remained unchanged as he considered the situation. Finally, he said, "I'm going to Earth."

Curious, Tieria asked, "What for?"

Setsuna's response was short and simple, "Recruiting."

Without waiting for Tieria to answer, Setsuna turned towards a shuttle in the back of the hangar and boarded it.

* * *

**Author's Note (part 2!):** Confused? Good. Making you go "Wait, WTH just happened!" was the point. Don't worry too much, *puts on mystic voice* _things shall become clear sooooooooooooooon..._ *ahem*

Anyways... Originally the fight scene between Kyrios and the Ahead was much, MUCH shorter, with Kyrios defeated and it's right arm severed in the span of three sentences. I reread the scene once and decided I didn't like how an ace was taken out so quickly and eas- uh, I mean, how much of a curb-stomp battle it was and redid the scene into it's current form. **I totally did not drop a hint just now.** *shifty eyes*

Unfortunately, the process of rewriting the scene ended up costing Kyrios more damage when compared to the original fight (it's head, right arm, the sides of the gut, and a good portion of it's cockpit electronics versus just the right arm and the left side of the cockpit).

Moving on: because I know that people don't fervently check my profile like packs of ravenous wolves, I'll repeat myself here: if you leave me an anonymous review my response will be down here at the bottom of the relevant chapter.

***!Anonymous Review Response Section!*** (That's just begging to become an acronym isn't it?)

Re: Gryphon Turboclaw - That is honestly what I get for writing past 2 in the morning when my brain decides to perform at less than half of it's usual capacity. Thanks for that. Also, (as stated above) don't worry, confusion was the point. Things will smooth out soon.


	3. Chapter 2: Celestial Being

**Chapter 2: Celestial Being**

Tieria walked into the medical bay of the Ptolemaios, where engineer Ian Vashti stood leaning against the wall while keeping watch over their "guest". He currently lay unconscious in a cylindrical recovery pod, his space suit having been replaced by a white patient's gown.

"Any changes?" Tieria asked.

"No. He's still unconscious," Ian replied. He put his forefinger and thumb against his chin as his face turned thoughtful. Seeing the look on Ian's face, Tieria asked, "What is it?"

"I'm just confused. Not only did he betray A-Laws, he's also piloting Kyrios! I never thought we'd see that Gundam again." He started rubbing the back of his head in his confusion and said, "I just can't wrap my head around it."

Tieria couldn't disagree. "Yes, we're going to have plenty of questions for him when he wakes up."

The pod started beeping as it's occupant began stirring.

"Well, speak of the devil..."

Ian reached out and hit the release button. The pod hissed as the pressure seal slowly released and the glass shield slid open. After a few moments, the young man opened his eyes and with a groan, gingerly pushed himself into a sitting position while putting a palm to his forehead.

Moments passed as he held that position. Eventually he looked up and, noticing he wasn't alone, cast an intense gaze on the two strangers as his gray eyes scanned them. After a few moments, he seemed to pass them off as non-threatening and instead fixed them with an expectant look. After several moments of silence, Tieria decided to make the first move.

"You took a nasty hit to your head back there. Are you alright?"

The young man simply nodded, responding in a surprisingly deeper voice than Ian or Tieria expected, "Aside from a lingering headache, I seem to be fine. I have you to thank for bailing me out, don't I?"

"Yes, but think nothing of it for now. Do you mind if we ask you a few questions?"

"Shoot."

With a non-hostile conversational front established, Tieria began to press forward.

"You were affiliated with A-Laws, correct?"

"That's right."

"Why did you betray them like that?"

"I was tired of them."

The simplicity of the response surprised Tieria and Ian.

Curious, Tieria pressed the question, "Would you elaborate on that?"

The young man closed his eyes and furrowed his brows as he carefully chose his next words.

"I didn't like our plan to deal with dissident nations in the Middle East. Planting GN particle generators to choke their economy was rather tyrannical in my eyes. I _hated_ that we destroyed _fourteen nations_ that refused to join the ESF in the name of 'peace'. And I absolutely _detested_ the fact that all of this information was twisted to sound 'just' and 'righteous' before it was fed to the public. Have I elaborated enough for you?"

Tieria nodded, though didn't immediately believe the story. Despite the stranger voicing a clear dislike for A-Laws, it didn't change the fact that he had also come from the tyrant organization itself. As much as Tieria didn't like it, he decided against pursuing the topic… for the time being, in any case.

"Yes, I have a basic understanding of the circumstances now. One more thing..."

"Ask away."

"How did you get your hands on that Gundam?"

The young man gave a lopsided grin along with a momentary chuckle as he said, "That's easy. I was assigned as the test pilot a few years back."

"What did those tests consist of?"

"R&D. Use the Gundam as a template to develop a new mobile suit."

"What new developments did A-Laws acquire?"

"The suit that was giving that blue Gundam such a hard time is the Ahead, reserved for squad captains and developed based on researching Winged."

"Winged? Is that what they call Kyrios?"

The young man nodded.

"Kyrios... So that's what it's actually called?"

"That is correct."

"So if you know that, then this means you two are with Celestial Being?"

Tieria tensed slightly, wary of where the conversation could go next as he answered, "That's right."

The young man looked him dead in the eye and said, "Then I hope you can accommodate one more person."

Tieria's eyes narrowed incredulously at the young man's suggestion as he said, "Even with what you've just said, surely you didn't expect us to just... welcome you with open arms?"

"No, I didn't. But now that I've betrayed A-Laws, Celestial Being is the only place I can go."

"And who is to say that we even need you?"

"I'm sure you saw that little scuffle I had with the Ahead. I know it wasn't the best combat demonstration but I can assure you that it was an inaccurate display of my combat ability. If given the chance, I will display the full extent of my capabilities firsthand."

Ian took the chance to speak up, directing his words at Tieria. "I don't like this any more than you do, but if he's capable I say we use him. And keep an eye on him, of course."

Tieria closed his eyes as he considered the situation. After a few moments of silence, he opened his eyes and fixed the young man with a serious glare.

"You understand that you're leaving everything behind, right? There's no going back."

"I think open betrayal of A-Laws makes my decision clear enough."

"Very well, then." Tieria nodded and turned to walk out of the door. He stopped midway and turned his head back.

"One last thing: you'll need an alias to identify yourself with."

The young man closed his eyes and started thinking. After a few moments, he pushed himself out of the pod as he answered, "Sora. Sora Museigen."

"Tieria Erde," was the response.

"And I'm Ian Vashti."

Tieria motioned to Ian and said, "Take care of him. I need to go back to the bridge."

Ian nodded as Tieria walked out of the door before turning to Sora. "Follow me."

Sora nodded and followed Ian out of the infirmary and into the hallway. He was lead down a few doors to another room. Ian opened the door and turned around to Sora, motioning for him to go in.

"There are some extra uniforms in the last locker," he said before making a motion at his shirt with his thumb. "Take your pick out of one of the black ones."

Sora nodded as he walked in. "I noticed Tieria was wearing a purple one. Color-coded?"

Ian nodded. "Something like that. Make it quick in there."

"Got a job for me already?"

"Yeah, but you need an introduction to the rest of the crew. Can't expect them to work with someone they don't know."

Sora nodded in full understanding and said, "Of course."

It took about five minutes before Sora emerged from the locker room sporting a black, slightly loose, long-sleeved Celestial Being uniform, complete with black and grey boots and brown gloves. Ian looked him up and down before he nodded in approval. Sora also nodded as he reached his left hand to his belt, before immediately realizing something was missing.

"Hey, where'd you put the suit I was wearing? I don't plan on using it again, but I had something on it that I can't lose."

Ian reached into his pocket and pulled a slender, gleaming black object with flat ends from his pocket.

"You mean this, right? I hope you'll understand when I say that I can't trust you with a weapon, especially a blade."

Sora gave an agitated sigh. He looked at Ian, who noted the strained look of his eyes, and said, "I do but... Look, just don't lose it, ok?"

"Is it that important to you?"

"Yes. You can hold onto it for as long as it takes for me to be trusted, just please _do not lose it_."

Ian nodded. "I won't."

He looked at the sheathed blade with new respect and carefully put it back into his pocket. "Alright, let's go."

Sora nodded as Ian turned and lead Sora through the halls of the Ptolemaios. Sora was first led up to the bridge to get the introductions out of the way.

* * *

The door opened to reveal a spacious, beige colored room seated to accommodate up to seven people: two at the front for the helm, one between and behind for the commanding officer, and four along the walls for other CIC personnel. Currently, only the helm seats and two CIC operator seats were taken. In short order, Sora was introduced to each of the occupants, besides Tieria.

The first was Mileina Vashti, Ian's daughter. She wore her brown hair in curly pigtails, sported a yellow uniform, white gloves, black and grey boots, and (to Sora's complete and utter confusion) a teal, pleated skirt that would have looked more appropriate on a school uniform. At only 14 years old, Sora found her a little young and over-energetic for a military operation but was informed by both Mileina and her father that alongside her duties as CIC operator, she was also skilled in mobile suit mechanics and engineering.

Next was Lasse Aeon, helmsman, gunner, and reserve Gundam Meister. He was a 30 year old, tall, lean speciman with short black hair and small scars going over his right eyebrow and bottom-left of his chin. Similarly to Ian and Sora, Lasse sported a black, Celestial Being uniform with brown gloves, and black and grey boots. He wore a vest instead of a jacket, exposing his short sleeves and arms. Despite being a reserve Meister and gunner, the fact that the Ptolemaios had lost its other helmsman five years ago meant that Lasse had to take over piloting the ship.

The final person to be introduced to Sora was Feldt Grace, a quiet girl of 19 years with dyed pink hair and a matching uniform. Despite her quiet nature, Sora was informed that she was the Ptolemaios' CIC operator alongside Mileina, while also being skilled in mobile suit mechanics, engineering, programming, and hacking. As she said hello to Sora, he noticed something odd with her uniform. Rather than ask Feldt directly, Sora decided to ask Ian about it after they had left the bridge.

"Say... Why's Feldt wearing a mismatched uniform?

Ian gave him a confused look, as though to say, "What are you talking about?"

"Her jacket's pink but her shirt's light green."

"Hmm... I'm not sure. The colored part of the shirt is only the sleeves and above the chest, and it's mostly covered by the jacket... Honestly, I never noticed."

"Hmm... Alright. Never mind then."

After receiving a quick tour of the ship (or more accurately, informed of the only areas of the ship that he was allowed to go while alone) Sora was directed into the hangar of the Ptolemaios to help prep Exia, Kyrios, and what little of their equipment that could be salvaged for transport.

"So where're we taking these to? I certainly hope it's not to the junker."

"Scrapping them or not is a call to be made later. In they're current condition, Exia and Kyrios are nothing more than dead weight for the Ptolemy." Ian saw the bothered look on Sora's face and added, "Don't worry about it too much. I contacted some of our people while you were still unconscious and a transport is on its way to pick them up. They'll probably be here within the next 48 hours."

"Right. Speaking of hours, how long have I been out?"

"I'm not entirely sure about how long you've been out, but you were brought on board about six or seven hours ago."

"Damn... I've been down for awhile then…"

Sora lingered on the thought for only a moment before turning his full attention to his work. The next hour flew by like nothing.

Upon securing the last stretch of cable around Kyrios, Sora's stomach let out a furious growl. He put a hand to his gut in a vain attempt to silence it while looking around for Ian. He saw him with a holo-tablet in hand, floating at the doorway and talking with Tieria about something. Sora slowly floated over to where they were. The conversation abruptly stopped when Tieria saw him approach.

"Ah, good timing," Ian said. "We were just talking about fixing you up with a room and getting you some food."

"'Fixing me up with a room and getting me some food?' I'm being graced with room service?" Sora asked, genuinely surprised.

Tieria smiled. "Yes. You get room service where you're going."

* * *

Five minutes later, Sora was floating in a corner of his cell in the brig, thoroughly annoyed at himself but still slightly amused that he hadn't seen this coming. His tray of food was set in a groove in the wall about 5 feet from the floor, providing him with a solid, convenient place to put his food while he ate. As Sora consumed the surprisingly tasty and filling meal, he looked around, inspecting the cell.

It was rather unimpressive. Every surface was light blue, and there were no windows or displays. Even the door was a solid mass of light blue E-carbon. The only outstanding feature of the room was the bed set across from the door and the groove in the wall, which stopped only for the door.

Sora sighed in content as he finished up his food. He stretched his arms and back as he floated to the bed. He knew it would probably be awhile before these people trusted him and he couldn't really blame them either. A defected A-Laws officer was something completely unheard of.

_But then, nobody would have heard of it anyway. The information would have been twisted around somehow... or hidden completely. Just like back then…_

He grunted in disgust, casting his mind around in an attempt to find something that didn't depress him. Eventually he kicked his boots off, stowing them with his jacket under the bed. He slid under the blanket and fell asleep in the zero-gravity of space, his mind lingering on happier days long past.

* * *

Sora awoke almost ten hours later, feeling completely refreshed. He had just finished getting his boots on when his cell door opened and Ian floated inside.

"Well, today's your lucky day," he said, a nasty looking grin on his face.

"Why's that?" Sora asked, cautious of Ian's expression. Were they going to vent him out of an airlock? Use him for target practice? Or could it possibly be that they...

"You get to eat outside of your cell."

_Oh._ Sora was again amused, this time because he had so easily gotten hopeful.

"Right." Sora rolled his eyes in mock annoyance. He put his jacket and gloves on as he followed Ian to the mess hall.

"I don't think I've explained yet, but the food here is all pre-prepared and stored in sealed trays in the freezer. You want something to eat, you grab a tray and heat it up. The meals themselves are nice and simple. No gourmet out here."

Sora grinned as he said, "I was previously stationed on an A-Laws battleship in space. Morality wasn't the only thing they were lacking."

Ian laughed as he passed Sora one of the aforementioned trays. He noted that it was already heated as he took it into his hand.

"Since we're in space, time of day has a bit less meaning. You just eat whenever you're hungry. Although, most of the crew seemed to want food at the same time today, so I took the liberty of preheating a tray for you too."

Sora nodded his thanks as he uncovered the tray. His face was met with a cloud of steam, and the smell of... nothing?

A few more sniffs and Sora confirmed that his nose wasn't actually playing tricks on him. He looked down at the contents of the tray to see a gray mush that vaguely reminded him of mashed potatoes.

"… I can see what you mean when you say that there's no such thing as gourmet out here and as such I'm going to ask where that… rather tasty meal from the other day came from."

Ian looked momentarily confused before a look of realization came over his face. He nodded sagely as he said, "Mileina probably decided to be nice and give you one of the trays that has something else besides that paste in them. That stuff doesn't taste like anything, but it'll fill you nonetheless."

"I certainly hope it fills me," Sora laughed as he took a spoonful and consumed it. Just as Ian had said, it didn't really taste like anything.

They spent the next few minutes eating and exchanging mostly small talk. Before long, Sora found that the subject had moved onto the subject of "past". He was wary of where the conversation could go, but thankfully Ian only wanted to know of what Kyrios had gone through during it's time out of Celestial Being's reach.

Sora explained everything he knew.

"As far as I know, Kyrios was thoroughly examined inside and out. It's systems, it's mechanics, everything. Nothing was left untouched. As I recall, the only thing the engineers regretted was that it didn't have it's original source of power. It was replaced with one of our GN Drives instead."

Ian nodded and then asked, "So… why is Kyrios mounted with a Tieran arm? It's clear she's still capable of battle. Why not do something more proper?"

Sora closed his eyes as he carefully thought his answer out.

"Kyrios was never meant to see battle again. After the Ahead was developed, I heard it was either going to scrapped or thrown into storage. As its test pilot, I had grown… attached. Even if it was enemy technology, I didn't want to see it go out with a whimper."

"Did that have anything to do with why you betrayed A-Laws?"

Sora nodded. "That's part of it. But that's not all. I managed to convince the higher ups to let me participate in operations with Kyrios. If I had known what I was going to be ordered to do then I think I would have destroyed Kyrios with my own hands."

Ian's eyes narrowed as he looked at Sora.

Sora saw the question coming and answered it before Ian had even voiced it.

"Do you remember those 14 massacres that I said A-Laws committed?"

Ian nodded.

"I had to participate in some of them. We were told we were putting down insurgencies. I was to fly in first and use Kyrios to scare them out of their hiding places. When we arrived at the designated area, I did as I was told. I flew in and… what I saw horrified me. What we had been sent to kill weren't soldiers."

His hands clenched into fists as he stopped talking. His eyes went wide as his entire body slackened. His utensil slipped from his hand and floated several inches away, forgotten.

Images flashed through Sora's mind. Images of men, women, and children running in terror as A-Laws mobile suits rained death from above. Orange particle beams slammed into throngs of people trying to get away, granting them escape through Death's cruel embrace.

"_An intervention for the sake of peace" was nothing but a lie. There was no intervention. There was only…_

The images continued to play in his mind, as though he had been forced to watch a horror movie so gruesome, it would make even the most hardened criminal shed tears and cry in terror. He cast his mind around in an attempt to make the images disappear, but no matter how he tried, they continued their mental rampage. He threw himself into his deeper consciousness in another attempt to get away. It wasn't until it was too late that he realized what a mistake he had made. One evil was replaced by another as something Sora had long suppressed came roaring to the forefront of his mind.

* * *

Sora opened his eyes and looked around to see that he was no longer aboard the Ptolemaios. He cast his eyes around in a frantic attempt to identify his current location. His eyes quickly settled on the signboard of a store. It was written in Japanese. With his location confirmed, he continued looking around when the unmistakable sound of an explosion pierced his ears. It didn't take long for him to find the source.

A public transportation bus had suddenly gone up in flames. Burned and blackened bodies, some still on fire, were scattered all over the immediate area from the explosion. Unharmed civilians desperately cleared the area as emergency response personnel quickly began to move in. Though confused at first, Sora's eyes went wide as he suddenly recognized the scene of his most painful memory.

With almost mechanical precision, Sora turned his head to where he had been on that day. He saw himself as he was 5 years ago, at 19 years old. He watched as his younger self ran up to the destroyed bus, flashing a Union lieutenant's insignia at the firefighters as he pushed his way into the heart of the carnage. He watched as he reached the edge of the bus's charred remains and peered inside, disbelief and a look of foreboding fear written all over his face.

The Present-Sora turned his head away, already knowing what his younger self was about to find. Amongst the blackened bodies were three in particular: a man, a woman, and a young girl with a blue ribbon in her long, black hair. Their faces had been deformed beyond recognition from the explosion, but Sora remembered how painfully easy it had been for him to identify them. The blue ribbon in the girl's hair had somehow managed to escape the destruction with only slight charring to the edges.

Sora heard the thump of his younger self falling to his hands and knees. The thud as he sent his knuckles into the ground. The sound of sobbing as tears flooded the eyes of the past and the eyes of the present. The sound of despair as a single voice shattered the heavens.

* * *

Ian watched as Sora's body suddenly tensed. His eyes squeezed shut as his hands curled into fists. His body shook as his breathing began to quicken. He bared his teeth and let out a grunt followed by a low, pain-filled growl. Ian was about to reach out and ask him what was wrong when Sora's body suddenly relaxed and his eyes slowly opened. The episode had ended as suddenly as it started. Sora shook his head as he looked up at Ian. He continued speaking, but his voice was now noticeably trembling.

"I knew turning on them right then and there would have just gotten me killed. So I decided to be patient. Until an opportunity showed itself, I participated in A-Laws operations, forcing myself to use the full extent of my abilities to complete any and all missions given to me. After every operation I was involved in ended in success, I was quickly promoted and given a free-reign license. I had permission to call my own shots while I was on the battlefield."

He sighed as he continued. "I always wondered why they didn't commission repairs for Kyrios. Back then I thought it may have been because they were on to me and wanted me killed off in combat. Now I think it may have just been a simple case of public opinion. Then again, I may have been right on both counts."

"Not even A-Laws can make the public support the use of a Gundam." Ian said.

Sora nodded as his eyes lost focus slightly.

Fearing another of Sora's episodes, Ian's brows furrowed in concern as he asked, "Sora… are you sure about this? Are you sure you want to keep fighting?"

He nodded and said, "Yes. I want the world to change. I want the existence of the Autonomous Peace-Keeping Force to end."

Ian's face turned thoughtful as he listened to the resolution in Sora's voice. After several moments of thought, he finally spoke up and said, "Alright. When the transport for Exia and Kyrios arrives, I want you to board it. I'll send word to Lagrange 3 ahead of you. When you arrive, find my wife. Tell her who you are and she'll take care of the rest."

"What, sending me off to day care now?" Sora half-heartedly joked.

Ian shook his head as he said, "Not quite. We all want A-Laws to be taken down. I'm just going to give you a little boost."

Though he was greatly intrigued by Ian's words, he decided to simply thank him instead of inquire further. Ian saw Sora's confusion and answered his question without needing him to ask it. Unfortunately, that answer was vague enough that Sora still didn't quite understand what Ian had meant.

"You'll see what I mean when you get there," really didn't explain much.

Sora shrugged in defeat and decided to not think about it for the time being. With their food consumed, he and Ian left the mess hall to tend to their duties.

* * *

**Author's Note:** Chapter 2 has hit the deck! Finally, the guy has a name that isn't "the young man" or "the young captain". I was getting a bit worried about calling him that for the prologue and first chapter.

This chapter took a bit longer to write than I had expected. I kept writing, deleting and rewriting, and continually finding out that I had wandered horribly off-course at some point in the writing. The end result is still slightly "meh" in my opinion, but that could just be me being _really_ self-critical ("you are your own worst critic" indeed). At the very least, I covered what I wanted to cover.

Anyways, the next couple of chapters will be mostly dialogue. There'll be some combat, but it'll be kept to a minimum as I go about fleshing out my character, giving him some backstory, **and following up with the hint I totally did not drop during my last Author's Note.** *shifty eyes*

Oh, and for those wondering: the whole bit about the little girl with the blue ribbon was inspired by yellow 14's Ace Combat 04 short, "Blue Ribbon". You people hear me! It was INSPIRED BY, _not_ RIPPED OFF OF! *F-22 flies in* Hey, the insignia on it's tail looks kinda familiar... *goes pale* Ooooohhh, **_CRAP_**.

In real life news, my second year of college starts up on the 16th and I'm soon going to replace "writing fanfiction" with "completing classes" as my main priority. Since Chapter 3 is already partly finished, I _should_ be able to get it up before things start to get really hectic (no promises, though). You may want to find something to keep you busy during what will undoubtedly turn into long waits between chapters (as though the wait between the last chapter and this one was "short" to begin with). These waits could be anywhere from a few weeks to a few months, with the worst case scenario being that I don't get _anything_ up until the end of the semester during the winter holidays. With that said, I hope you enjoyed the chapter, and again, if you give me an anonymous review, please check the bottom of the relevant chapter for my response.

Later!

**Edit:** I completely forgot to mention: the name "Museigen Sora" (because last names come first in Japan) means "Unlimited Sky". In the time between this chapter's upload and this edit, some of you have probably used the wonderful, wonderful interwebs to get this information already, but still...


	4. Chapter 3: Forward Interval

**Chapter 3: Forward Interval**

Time passed quickly on the Ptolemaios. Sora wasn't sure if it was just his imagination, or if it was because of all the work Ian was putting him through. Whatever it was, it made 48 hours fly. Before Sora knew it, the transport from Lagrange 3 had arrived.

He had just awoken when Ian popped his head inside and informed him that his ride was here. Sora floated out of his cell and was about to shut the door behind him when he heard voices from his left. There were three: two male and one female. Despite not being fully awake yet, Sora could tell the female was definitely Mileina, and one of the males was most likely Lasse. The third voice, however, was completely unknown to Sora. He floated over to investigate.

"We brought you some food! And Red Haro will keep you company for awhile. You can look through our databases if you want," Mileina's voice said.

"You're going to start more armed interventions aren't you?" the unknown voice asked. There was a hint of thinly veiled anger in his words.

The voice of Lasse answered, "No. We're going to destroy A-Laws."

Sora jumped into the conversation at that point, poking around the cell door and announcing his presence with a resolute, "That's right."

Inside the cell was a young man, probably a civilian. He was wearing a blue, long-sleeved, button-up shirt, khaki pants, sneakers and looked to be in his early twenties. What he was doing onboard the ship was a mystery to Sora.

"Is he another stowaway?" Sora asked. He saw the youth's brows furrow as he fielded the question.

"Nah, Setsuna said he was an old acquaintance. Found him as part of the labor force on the colony's high-grav block, apparently."

Sora's brow furrowed in confusion as he asked, "What? Isn't high-gravity labor reserved for war criminals?"

Lasse shrugged and said, "We're not sure what he was doing there either. You'd have to ask him, but he doesn't seem to be in a talkative mood."

"It wasn't me! It's not my fault… Security came in to take Eddie, I asked why he was being arrested and they took me too," the youth angrily blurted out.

"So, why's the kid locked up?"

"According to Tieria, he pulled a gun on Setsuna but couldn't pull the trigger. When we picked you guys up, the first thing Tieria did was throw him in the brig." Lasse answered.

"Why can't you just let me go! I -"

"Saji Crossroad," the stern voice of Tieria interrupted. The purple haired, bespectacled Meister approached the group.

The annoyance in his voice steadily grew as he said, "I believe I've gone over this with you already. We have taken custody of you for your own safety. A-Laws had you imprisoned. Whether in error or not, if we were to let you go, you would be found, imprisoned, and then executed as a member of the anti-Federation group Katharon. Do you understand?"

With a scowl, Saji turned his head to the wall, muttering, "Trying to destroy them is just going to cause more conflict. You're the reason A-Laws was created to begin with."

"And that's why we're going to destroy them," Sora said.

"What would you know? Didn't you just say you were a _stowaway_?" Saji's attempt to hit a nerve, though valiant, had failed… slightly.

Without turning his head, Sora asked, "Would someone tell Ian that I'm going to be a little late?"

Lasse nodded and took Mileina by the shoulders, guiding her out of the area as he left.

"What are you going to do? Shoot me?"

"No. I would be wasting a bullet and you'd be wasting your life." _Not that I even have the means to shoot you anyways._

"Then why don't you just go? I'm sure you have more important business elsewhere."

"I have time," Sora replied in an offhand tone. His voice became serious as he said, "I'm curious. You sound like you have a problem with the idea of conflict. You certainly don't look like a soldier, so I'll assume that you aren't."

"You're right. I'm not a soldier. War, conflict, fighting… It's all stupid. There's no point to any of it."

_A largely naïve line of thought… however… _"I agree."

"Then why fight? Why keep doing something you don't agree with?"

"That's a question I've asked myself plenty of times recently. At times, not having that answer was agonizingly frustrating. Eventually I decided it was because reality isn't as simple as many people would have liked it, you and me included. That's when I remembered that that was why I chose to fight in the first place."

Memories of his first time climbing into the cockpit of a mobile suit, a Union Realdo, flashed in front of Sora's eyes.

"I saw it as a necessary evil. But even then… Sometimes it goes too far."_ Sometimes that evil needs to be made unnecessary._

Saji's face showed nothing but confusion. "I don't understand."

Sora shrugged and said, "I don't expect you to. You have a brain. If you really want to understand, then think about it for awhile. Just keep in mind that not everybody follows the same train of thought as you do. That would make things simple. And reality doesn't like being simple."

With that, Sora floated out of the door. Tieria closed and locked it behind him.

Having finished business inside the Ptolemy, Sora went out into space to help load the Gundams onto the transport. He was surprised at its small size and rather chop-job appearance and wasn't overly surprised to find out that it _was_. He was informed that the transport was constructed from two mobile suit containers taken from the first Ptolemaios' external docking ring with two lengths of hull connecting the undersides of the containers to each other. Sora laughed to himself about that fact as he worked.

Once both Exia and Kyrios had been secured, he floated back onto the Ptolemy to give his farewells to the crew. Sora expected the goodbyes to be a quick ordeal. He had known these people for less than two days, and since he spent most of his time either in the hangar or his cell, Ian was the only one he had really talked to. Even so, Sora was pleasantly surprised to find everyone assembled near the airlock to personally see him off.

_Kindness that would probably disappear if they found out I was former A-Laws… unless they already know._

He exited the Ptolemy via the airlock and floated his way over to the transport. As he made the transition, he took the chance to take in the sight of the Ptolemy's exterior. Sora had yet to see the ship from the outside.

He floated outside of the ship and stared at it for several moments, admiring it's bulky, angular shape. He vaguely remembered being told by someone that the ship had been built over the wreckage of it's predecessor. The impressive rebuild reminded him of a whale, for some reason.

After staring at the ship for several moments, Sora forced himself to turn his full attention to the transport. He needed to get going.

He directed himself towards one of the transport's airlocks and entered the ship. A gruff voice from Sora's left greeted him as he entered the hallway beyond the airlock.

"So you're the one we're taking to Lagrange 3?"

Sora turned to face the source of the voice. A dark-skinned man who appeared to be in his mid-thirties stood several feet away from Sora. By his grizzled appearance and tone of authority, Sora assumed he was the vessel's captain.

The man stepped forward and introduced himself. "Captain Leo Jackson."

He motioned for Sora to follow him as he turned and began moving through the inside of the ship.

"I had a talk with Ian about you. Seems like the bulk of you're abilities are in the area of piloting mobile suits. That about right?"

Sora nodded. "I also had a few stints as a transport craft pilot."

"Oh, good. I was planning on putting you through a crash course so you could take a few shifts at the helm, but this'll speed things up a little. Anyways, the trip to L3 will take anywhere between two and five days, depending on how many patrols we have to dodge. There should be plenty of time to get you acquainted with the rest of the crew."

Sora nodded. "Is this ship armed?"

"Yes, but it's really nothing to depend on. These old mobile suit containers have each been modified with two forward facing missile tubes. The number of missiles we carry is irrelevant if we can only fire four at a time, nevermind the few seconds it takes for the launchers to reload. Also, this ship can't generate a GN Field. The only thing standing between us and enemy fire is several inches of E-Carbon plating, which would be fine if the rest of the world were still using kinetic weaponry. Sadly, reality doesn't seem to like letting us off easy."

They stopped at a door as Sora nodded again. "I get the picture. This is a transport, not a battleship, do what's necessary to avoid combat at all costs."

Leo smiled he said, "Smart kid."

He motioned to the door as it opened and said, "This is the bridge. Let's get you acquainted with the rest of the crew shall we?"

* * *

Introductions with the small five man crew went smoothly, and two days was all the crew needed to regard Sora in a friendly, casual fashion.

Unfortunately, two days was _not _how long it took to arrive at Lagrange 3. A-Laws appeared to have expanded its patrol areas. They hadn't moved into the Lagrange points yet, but it was clear that they would get there eventually. Leo carefully re-plotted the transport's course, making an effort to take the shortest alternate routes while still retaining a wide buffer zone between the ship and the patrols. In the end, it took four days for the transport to reach Lagrange 3.

In the time it took to get there, Sora was able to discuss the Ptolemaios group with Leo. Sora learned of the four Gundam Meisters, the group's tactical forecaster and how she had gone missing not long after their defeat at the end of Operation Fallen Angels.

At some point, the discussion had turned to the renegade trio of Gundams (identified as "Gundam Thrones") piloted by the Trinity siblings that had appeared during the joint operation in the Taklamakan Desert. He learned of their more brutal tactics of eradicating war: instead of directly intervening in current conflicts as Aeolia Schenberg claimed Celestial Being would do, the Thrones would instead preemptively attack military bases and leave nothing but smoking craters and scorched earth behind.

He also learned of how one of the Thrones was responsible for making an unprovoked attack on a wedding in Spain and how everybody but a single, young girl was killed. According to a report, that girl didn't make it out unscathed either. She escaped with her life, but the cost was her hand, her health, and her mental stability. Aside from being witness to the murder of her entire immediate and extended family en masse, the high particle compression ratio of the Thrones appeared to have poisoned her body, rendering cellular regeneration and all other forms of modern medicine useless. She would be forced to spend the rest of her life without her hand.

Sora noted that the story of the girl sounded vaguely familiar to him. However, he couldn't recall where he might have heard it before and chose to think on the matter during some other time.

The mobile suit containers were opened as soon as the transport was secured in its dock. Sora was about to go and help when Leo tapped him on the arm and made a motion to follow him. Sora obliged, and followed the captain into the facility where they were greeted by a bespectacled blonde woman in a red Celestial Being uniform.

"You're here a bit later than expected. Did something happen?"

Leo nodded. "Patrols."

"I take it you lost them?"

"Of course."

The woman nodded and said, "Very well. By the way, Leo, I notice you have a new crewmember."

"Not necessarily. Ian asked me to bring him over here."

The woman noticeably brightened at the mention of Ian's name. Picking up on the hint, Sora asked, "Do you know him?"

"Of course I know him. Ian is my husband."

"In that case, you're the person I'm looking for. Ian said to find you as soon as I got here."

"Ah, yes. He sent a message about you a few days ago. My name is Linda Vashti," she said, offering Sora a handshake as she did so.

He accepted the gesture and introduced himself out of etiquette rather than necessity. "Sora Museigen."

"I hear you have a present with you as well?"

Sora instantly picked up on the hint and nodded. "Two, actually. I'm curious to see what you'll do with them."

"So am I, actually," she agreed.

With the introductions finished, she turned towards Leo and said, "Well then, Captain, I think I can take care of him from here."

Sora held his hand out to offer a farewell handshake. "Take care, Captain."

The two shook hands as Leo said, "So long, kid. Good luck."

And with that, he turned floated back out into the dock as the airlock slid shut behind him. Sora stared at it for a few moments before he noticed Linda floating nearby another door, motioning for him to come over to where she was. As soon as Sora arrived, she pressed her finger to a small panel set into the wall. It flashed green and the door slid open.

"This way," she said as she floated down the dim, gray hallway behind the door. He followed, noting a glowing bright light at the other end. There was silence as they proceeded down the hall, the light at the other end growing steadily bigger and brighter. It didn't take long before Linda spoke.

"I don't think you've received a proper welcome yet," she said as the light slowly turned into a shape resembling a doorway. Linda motioned for Sora to go through first. He did so, and was greeted by the sight of an enormous room several hundred cubic meters in size. Light reflected off of every surface as a gleaming, silvery white. Open doorways were set into all of the walls at regular intervals, every single one spewing out or receiving human traffic. Every person moving through the crossroads wore a color-coded Celestial Being uniform.

Linda noted the awestruck look on Sora's face as he took in the sight of Celestial Being's Lagrange 3 research and development facility. She took a non-intrusive position just outside of his peripheral vision and said, "Welcome to Krung Thep, the City of the Gods."

* * *

**Author's Note:** Yay, I'm still alive! A combination of other writing ideas, writer's block, school, and Starcraft II is a deadly blow to my efficiency. Points and a cookie for still managing to get something out before the end of the semester (read: the start of the holidays).

On a side note is a little something I forgot to include in the last chapter's Author's Note (I edited it in, but really, what are the chances _everyone_ came back and found it?). The name "Museigen Sora" (because last names come first in Japan) literally translates to "Limitless Sky". Most of you probably just used an online dictionary to find that out before I went off and edited that in. Also, while we're on the topic of foreign names, I should probably also point out that "Krung Thep" is Thai and translates to "City of the Gods," hence Linda's line.

In other news, work on the next chapter has already begun. Note that again, due to school, I will make no promises over when I get it out. At the moment, I _will_ be bold enough to say that I just might be able to squeeze it out before the end of the semester also. For now, however, it's time to hunker down for another period of waiting between chapters. I'll see you guys later.


	5. Chapter 4: City of the Gods

Read, review, and above all else, enjoy!

**Chapter 4: City of the Gods**

It had been almost three weeks since Sora had disembarked at Krung Thep. The Gundams Exia and Kyrios had disappeared beyond Sora's reach, into open hangars where only the engineering teams could see them. In the meantime, Linda made sure Sora was more busy than idle.

Linda watched as Sora floated off to get started on the day's work, then turned and headed for her office as soon as he had turned the corner. She took a seat at her desk and opened up her personal console, staring at the message she had finished composing about an hour prior. Before sending the letter off, she decided to give it a last once-over.

_To my dearest Ian,_

_I certainly hope you're taking care of Mileina. You know as well as I do that the front line is a dangerous place for someone her age. Knowing you, though, she'll probably be fine. I have faith in your ability to keep your own daughter safe from harm._

_Right about now, I imagine your becoming annoyed over my need to send a letter over the encrypted channel for something like family matters, but I assure you, there is more to it than that._

_That young man you sent over here is quite extraordinary. You're last message said he was formerly of the Union military. I can say with confidence that they lost quite the pilot. I'm certainly glad he's on our side now. I've done as you asked and had him put through mobile suit combat evaluation tests, and quite frankly, his results leave me speechless. He's turned out to be quite the super soldier (though I'm quite sure he isn't actually one). I've included a detailed evaluation sheet with this message. Take a look at it as soon as possible._

_Also, I've had both Exia and Kyrios examined as soon as the opportunity arose. Despite the deplorable condition they were in, the frames of both are actually still serviceable. They are being brought back to working order, but it will take some time for both suits to return to full functionality. Our efforts are currently focused on bringing Kyrios back first, since Exia's Meister is currently taken. In the meantime, I'm going to personally see that something is done about Kyrios' current source of power. The pseudo-solar furnace would never be able to satisfy the power requirements in the long term._

_Don't worry too much about the problems we're having over here. For now, you should focus on the issues aboard the Ptolemy, and I'll worry about the issues here at L3. I hope to see you and Mileina soon._

_With love,_

_Linda_

Satisfied with her work, Linda sent the letter off to its destination. She removed her glasses and rubbed her eyes for a few moments, tired and still in shock over Sora's evaluation scores.

She still couldn't believe the results. After staring at her console's screen for a few seconds, she opened a simplified version of the very same evaluation sheet she had just sent to her husband and looked over it again.

_Mobile Suit Combat Evaluation of: _Museigen, Sora

_Percentages based on 1000 simulated battles._

_Gundam Exia: Used: 26% Combat Evaluation Score: 92%_

_Gundam Dynames: Used: 22% Combat Evaluation Score: 85%_

_Gundam Virtue: Used: 21% Combat Evaluation Score: 81%_

_Gundam Kyrios: Used: 31% Combat Evaluation Score: 97%_

_Combat Endurance score: 93% (based on the Taklamakan Desert scenario)_

_Overall combat evaluation score (not an average): 96%_

Linda rubbed her eyes again as she finished rereading the report. She was by no means a combat expert, but the scores Sora had gotten put him in a class of his own. Never before had a single pilot managed to achieve such high scores with such different mobile suits in such a short amount of time. The fact that Sora was only allowed a single 5-minute practice round with each Gundam only served to hammer the point home.

Noting that having Sora only work on the combat sims would be a waste of time in the long term, Linda was thankful that she had decided to have Sora be of use to the labs by giving him a list of errands to run every day. These were usually mundane jobs that consisted of various deliveries from point A to point B. After many, many repetitions of his daily routine, Linda had decided to up his responsibilities. Back then, it had only been several days since Sora had joined the staff of Krung Thep, but Linda had already decided to increase his workload.

* * *

Several weeks passed since Sora had arrived. The level of trust in him had increased dramatically since then. Most of the people he worked with now greeted him with a smile instead of a cautious gaze. It was a welcome change in attitude and atmosphere.

At the time, Sora was currently on his way to one of the many R&D labs spread about the wing. As he made his way there, he chuckled to himself at how easily he had gotten lost during his first few days. Thanks to Linda continuously sending him all over the base on errands, Sora eventually had its layout committed to memory.

He now easily and confidently maneuvered through the corridors of the base until he finally reached his destination. Sora reached down to the keypad next to the door and pressed a button. The door slid open with a light humming sound. Sora floated through the open doorway and joined two other figures standing around a large table situated in the center of the room.

One of them was a bespectacled blonde woman in a red Celestial Being uniform, who Sora easily identified as Linda Vashti, wife of Ian and one of Celestial Being's head engineers. Standing next to her was a considerably younger blonde woman with a slightly darker skin tone than Linda. She wore a yellow Celestial Being uniform, but replaced the standard pants with a pair of shorts that, in Sora's opinion, were far below regulation length. He had only been recently introduced to her: Sherilyn Hyde, Ian's teenaged understudy.

From what Sora could gather, she was a shy and quiet individual who didn't usually express herself. However, she would show a different side to her under the right circumstances. Otherwise, she made up for her quietness with engineering genius and sheer ingenuity. Linda had told Sora that Sherilyn was responsible for a lot of the recent breakthroughs in Celestial Being's GN tech.

"If there's a problem that can be solved by engineering savvy, you should bring it up with Sherilyn," Linda had once said.

At the moment, however, this wasn't the case. Both Linda and Sherilyn were currently discussing what sounded to be a very important matter. Sora quietly approached the duo as they were locked in heated debate.

"We've already tried that, it almost overloaded the Drive!"

"Sherilyn, you know as well as I do that we can't send him out there with that GN Drive. We already know it will provide power for up to 24 hours, but that's only for idle operation. He'd be dead in the water long before he reached Earth! Not to mention the Ptolemy doesn't even carry the equipment necessary to _recharge_ it!"

"I know! I know…" Sherilyn replied in a frustrated tone. She then became silent as she began thinking. She remained so for almost a minute before she spoke up again.

"I still have a few ideas I want to try, but—"

"No. We already determined those methods had a high chance of self-destructing the drive on start-up, nevermind the fact the explosion would be inside the Ptolemaios. The potential collateral damage is too great."

"Well then, what other choices do we have! I'm out of ideas here!"

Sora cleared his throat. "Ahem… Excuse me–"

He winced as Sherilyn violently whipped around and snapped, "_What!_"

Without losing stride, he said, "Just my daily check-in with Linda. Looks like I came in at a… complicated time. Would I be of any help here, or…?"

Linda smiled her usual kind and motherly smile, but it failed to completely hide her current frustration.

"You're not an engineer by any stretch of the imagination, but you've shown at least a basic grasp of mobile suit technology. Under normal circumstances I wouldn't think twice before passing you over in favor of someone else, but since you're already here… Who knows? Maybe a new head and a different angle is what we need."

Sora nodded and moved to stand on the other side of the table, across from the two women and as far as politely possible from Sherilyn's venomous stare. He then asked the two to give him the basic rundown of what was going on.

After what felt like almost an hour of explanations, Sora had decided he had entered an area far beyond his comfort zone. He stood and quietly considered the options available to them, his only reason for doing so at this point being to save some face. His eyes focused on the table as he thought to himself.

_Urgh… I really wish the high-capacity condensers would last for more than five hours… This would be so much simpler…_

He let out a low, frustrated growl as he closed his eyes. Almost immediately, his discussion with Saji about reality not being simple came to mind.

Sora couldn't help but shake his head at the thought.

Despite the apparent setback, an idea slowly began to form in his mind. He wasn't quite sure how Linda or Sherilyn would respond to it, or even if they had already tried it, but he still decided to give it voice.

Sora opened his eyes and turned them towards Sherilyn, a gesture she didn't appear to appreciate in the slightest. He ignored the dangerous expression on her face and asked, "Have you considered using a separate source of power alongside the Drive?"

Both women nodded their heads.

Undaunted, Sora continued and said, "Well, how about this then? Kyrios already has plasma engines mounted in its legs. What if we were to run a powerplant similar to that in parallel with the Drive?"

Sherilyn shook her head.

"I already thought of something like that. It's too unreliable. Simulations of the machine started to become unstable after we started pushing them and ended up exploding. If there was some way to get around that, like merging the two into a single design, then…" her voice trailed off as her eyes slowly began to light up.

"Actually, if a few parts were changed around …" Her mouth parted into a huge smile as her voice filled with glee. "I think this might actually work!"

"I don't believe this!" she practically yelled. "Sora! Get out of this room,_ right now!_"

"Wait, wha–"

Sherilyn gave no explanation. Her smile changed into an annoyed glare as she pointed her finger at Sora.

"You! OUT! _NOW!_"

"But –"

This time it was Linda who cut Sora off. She smiled another one of her motherly smiles as she said, "Now, Sora, I want you to understand. No matter how much we trust you, there are still certain things that only certain people are allowed to know."

"But I –"

"Sora…" she said in a drawn-out, condescending tone. She removed her glasses, and suddenly her smile disappeared and the look in her eyes changed.

At that moment, Sora came to the conclusion that there was something about Linda that utterly terrified him. Maybe it was the fact that the atmosphere seemed to have suddenly compressed, and the air had suddenly become frozen and unbreathable. Or perhaps it was because she was now giving him a predatory glare that could only be compared to a mother finally losing patience with her child.

He really couldn't say what. All he knew was that the moment Linda's glasses left her face, Sora's brain suddenly did an aggressive gear change into the fight-or-flight response. And every fiber of his being was screaming at him to pick "flight".

"… just wanted an explanation?" he finished meekly. Suddenly afraid the two women would grow fangs and claws with which to brutally tear him apart, Sora chose not to wait for a response. He instead nodded at them, turned, and made for the door as fast as he could without being impolite.

Linda called out to him just before he made it. "Oh, and Sora?"

He turned to see Linda with her glasses back on and the familiar smile on her face. The apparent return to normalcy did nothing to change the atmosphere. If nothing else, it served only to make it worse.

"Not a word of this to anyone, understood?"

He simply nodded again, turned back towards the door, and literally threw himself through it. The door slid shut behind him.

Upon confirming that the door was firmly in place, Sora began taking deep breaths in an attempt to calm himself down.

He began to wonder just what had had happened, but for the life of him, he couldn't figure it out. He eventually chose to not ponder any further, and instead headed back to his room to grab his holo-tablet and get started with the day's work. He was quite intent on forgetting what had just happened.

* * *

Three days passed. Sora had long put the events in the lab behind him, and continued his daily business as he usually did.

Suddenly, his tablet started beeping. He had just received a message from Linda.

He pressed a button, and the screen showed the words "Sound Only" as his tablet began to project Linda's voice.

"Sora, I need you to come down to the mobile suit hangar as soon as possible."

To Sora, the message was quite strange. He had no permission to be in the hangar. The sudden request for his presence there did nothing but confuse him.

Anticipation and a sense of excitement, two things that Sora had not felt in recent memory, began to well up inside of him as he made his way down to the hangars. Despite having to move to the opposite side of the base, it felt like his trek only lasted for a few seconds.

He quickly arrived at the hangar's entrance, and thumbed the keypad, passing through the door without even letting it fully open.

Inside, as he expected, were Linda and Sherilyn. Both looked extremely tired, with noticeable bags under their eyes. Despite the serious expressions they wore on their faces, they looked just as excited as Sora felt.

"Should I assume that I'm about to get an explanation?" Sora asked. "You two look tired and happy at the same time. Can I assume this is something good?"

Linda nodded, motioning him over to the other side of the room. For some reason, a guardrail stretched along the wall's entire length. At the rail's center was a single console reaching up from the floor.

"Sora, you've been nothing but helpful in your time here," Linda began. "All of us appreciate what you've done, no matter how small and menial the tasks might have been."

Sherilyn stepped forward and began talking, though a slight hint of annoyance was noticeable in her voice. "Thanks to your… 'input' from the other day, we managed to make a technological breakthrough."

She paused for a moment, casting her eyes towards Linda, who picked up where Sherilyn had left off.

"As a gesture of gratitude, would like to have the honor of naming this technology after you, with your permission."

Sora looked at both of them, stunned. This wasn't even the last thing he expected. He held his answer back for only a few seconds to wonder how this might affect him.

"Permission granted."

Both women came out smiling, though as typical of Sherilyn, hers had a vibe of sarcasm about it.

"Well, that takes care of the name problem," Sherilyn said.

"Yes, I have to admit we originally used your name on the prototype as a means to distinguish it. Eventually it just stuck," Linda said. She quickly realized the implications of what she had just said and added, "Though we _do_ appreciate what you've done. Now before we get ahead of ourselves, there is one more thing I need to ask you."

Sora turned his attention back towards the older woman.

"Sora, when you talked to my husband he said you had seen firsthand the atrocities that A-Laws committed, that you wanted to fight against them, and change the world. I want you to tell me, in full honesty: did you mean what you said, or was it just something that came out in the spur of the moment?"

There was no pause to think for the response. It was delivered with full resolution, without the slightest hint of wavering.

"I meant every word that I said. I've seen enough of what A-Laws has done and how they operate to know that they need to be removed from the picture."

His eyes went somewhere to his lower left as he quietly muttered, "I should know…"

Linda nodded her approval and said, "Very good. However, what you say could be different from what you do. With that in mind, I'd like to give this to you."

She raised hand. Sitting in her open palm was what looked like a strip of black material with metal attached to each end. Hanging from one of the ends was a small, circular object, also made of metal. The length and shape of the material enough for Sora to assume it was some kind of necklace or choker.

Linda took a step towards him, holding the object with both hands, from both ends, as though offering to put it on for him.

"If I may?"

Sora looked apprehensively at the object. He didn't like the idea of something foreign being attached to his neck.

"What is it?"

"This is a little something to help you remember your words."

Not satisfied with the ambiguity of her answer, he took a step back and waited for her to explain further. It soon became clear that no explanation was forthcoming.

Both stood where they were, their eyes silently letting the other know that they wanted their way. The tense silence was suddenly broken by the sound of the hangar doors opening. Sora instinctively glanced to his side to see a woman standing in the doorway.

Were this a normal situation, the first thing he would have noted would have been the unique blue and white uniform the woman was wearing. As it was however, the first thing he noticed was her voluminous, unnaturally white hair. The second thing he noticed was the large scar that marred the left side of her face. He briefly wondered if the two were connected before his eyes noted movement.

The woman moved up to the group, her eyes scanning them, seemingly taking in the whole situation with a simple glance. They went from person to person before finally settling on the necklace in Linda's hands.

The woman walked up to Linda and held her open palm out. The necklace switched hands as Linda backed away, the situation now beyond her.

Now in control, the woman turned her eyes to Sora.

"My name is Chall Acustica, Krung Thep's base director. Unless I'm mistaken, you're Sora?"

He nodded in response.

"I've heard quite a bit about you. How the Ptolemy crew salvaged you and a half-destroyed Kyrios after you backstabbed your A-Laws wingmen."

Sora's eyes widened in shock. His involvement with A-Laws was something that he had assumed stayed between himself and Ian. Noting the quickly-veiled panic in Sora's eyes, Chall said, "And yes, before you panic, we already know about your past involvement with that organization."

Though her words were said in a neutral stance, just the fact that she had said them had Sora unnerved. Had Ian told her? And if so, how much did he actually say? Before he could expand on his thoughts, she began speaking again.

"So tell me, Sora. Why did you join us?"

Once again, with no pause, he said, "To fight against A-Laws and see to it that they are destroyed."

Chall nodded in approval and said, "I can hear the conviction in your voice, and the lack of hesitation. That's good."

She raised the necklace up to eye level and asked, "You don't want to put this on, do you?"

When Sora remained silent, she continued and said, "I already know what you're thinking, and I don't blame you. This is an older method we use to make sure that those who can't be trusted stay loyal to our cause. Linda didn't lie when she said this was something to help you remember your words."

She took a deep breath, before regarding the necklace in her hand.

"This is an explosive neck brace. If you stray from this path, or attempt to remove it in any way it will go off, destroying your neck and ensuring your death. As I'm sure you can imagine, it's not the prettiest or quickest way to go."

Her face remained unchanged as she spoke. Sora's, on the other hand, contorted slightly as his eyes focused on the neck brace.

"If you really meant what you said, then you'll accept the brace. If that conviction really wasn't a façade, then you should have nothing to worry about. If I'm wrong, then…"

Chall's other hand suddenly produced a pistol from inside her coat and pointed it at Sora.

"I"ll save you the trouble."

She raised the hand holding the neck brace.

"Take your pick. Which way are you going to go?"

She watched calmly as Sora's eyes went from the brace, to the pistol, and then back to the brace. Slowly, she could see him accepting defeat.

"Give me the brace."

Chal's expression remained the same as she walked up to Sora and snapped the brace in place, making sure to position the circular piece (where Sora safely assumed the explosive was) directly over his Adam's apple.

He twisted his neck around before commenting, "It's a bit of a tight fit…"

Without responding, Chall turned to leave. Before she passed through the door, she turned her eyes back to Linda and said, "Carry on."

As soon as the doors slid shut, the wall suddenly began to change color. The normal gun-metal gray began to shift. It took Sora several seconds to realize that the wall was not in fact a wall, but a very opaque set of windows stretching from the floor all the way up to the ceiling. As their opacity was replaced with transparency, Sora looked through the windows only to see nothing but darkness.

As though responding to his confusion, lights on the opposite side of the windows began to turn on in sequence. Slowly, a gleaming white shape was revealed.

A long nosecone sporting small fins was followed by a midsection sprouting small wings embraced at the base with gray pincer shields. The shape ended with huge engines on the aft. Sora was quite certain he had never seen this machine before. The only thing he was able to compare it to was a single-stage-to-orbit rocket.

Linda answered his question before he could ask it.

"This machine is the newly repaired and updated GN-003RE Gundam Kyrios, served with a bonus: an updated Gust equipment pack. Out of curiosity, do you remember when you first delivered this Gundam to us?"

"Yeah, it was, uh…" He paused to give his next words some thought. "Well, to be blunt, it was in crap shape. I'm amazed to see how quickly it was brought back to speed."

Linda smiled and said, "We had to give it an overhaul anyway, so no harm done."

"Speaking of overhaul," he began to say, turning to Linda with a hopeful look in his eye.

"Well, we _did_ say that we were naming a source of power after you didn't we?"

Again a button on the console was pushed. A wireframe image of Kyrios appeared. The words "GNS Drive" appeared along with an arrow extending to the Gundam's upper back.

"This is the Gundam Nucleus Sky Drive, or just GNS Drive for short. This is what will be powering your Kyrios."

Sora nodded with approval at the name, then looked at the image again.

"Don't bother trying to figure out how it works," Sherilyn said. "You remember what Linda said? About no matter how much you're trusted, there are still certain things only certain people are allowed to know? This is one of them. Buut… What we _can_ tell you is that the system uses plasma."

Linda nodded. "Yes, unfortunately, that's all we can say on that matter. We just finished fine tuning it, but we're not going to let you go until tomorrow. We still need to give you a basic rundown on what's different between this Kyrios and the Kyrios you're used to."

Sora's eyes ran down the length of Kyrios Gust as he asked, "Wait, let me clear something up. It's been almost three weeks since I arrived here. Did you really fully repair and overhaul a Gundam, complete R&D on a brand new power source for it, and then _build _it in such a short amount of time?"

Linda simply smiled and said, "Sora, if my husband can build a fully functioning and combat-ready Gundam in 24 hours, surely you didn't think that his wife and student couldn't do something similar?"

"Well, I'm sorry I didn't know," Sora responded, coloring his voice with the slightest bit of mock indignation.

"You're excused," she smiled.

Her face became serious again as she walked to the door while motioning for him to follow her.

"Let's go take a look at it now then, shall we?"

* * *

**Author's Note:** Here you go everyone, a belated holiday gift from me to you. I know I said I'd get it out _before_ the holidays started, and honestly, my target was to get it out on Christmas Day. I missed, obviously.

In spite of that, I do have some good news! This chapter heralds the return to the proud Gundam tradition of causing things to explode, the conversion of Mobile Suits into Mobile Firecrackers, and Soldier A to scream "IT'S A GUNDAM!"

A good portion of it is going to be Sora's fault. Also, did I mention that things are going to explode? I'm looking at YOU, people who are asking when we're going to get back to the fighting!

Speaking of which, some of you probably read my description of Kyrios Gust and then started comparing it to a picture. Those same people are probably noting some minor differences, like "Hey, Gust doesn't have shields around its wings!"

Well, you're absolutely right. It doesn't. So what gives? You'll see in the next chapter.

And also, what makes a "GNS Drive" so special? I'm going to have to quote Linda here and say that there are certain things that are only meant to be known by certain people. This isn't one of them. You'll see when it becomes appropriate.

I have to say that writing out Linda, Chall, and Sherilyn was… interesting. Linda has almost no screentime (and thus almost no material to work with), while Chall and Sherilyn are characters from the side stories which are, to my knowledge, largely untranslated. In the end, I had to go and build their characters based on what little information I could gather.

That little scene where Sherilyn yells at Sora to get out is actually something that randomly and spontaneously appeared in my head quite some time ago. It's admittedly quite the tangent from the usual atmosphere of the series, but after imagining the scene playing out in my head, I couldn't not include it. For those worrying that this kind of writing will impact the overall tone of the story, rest assured that this is probably the only time it's going to happen. Oh, and also, I admit that 1000 battles is a metric ***expletive***-ton of fighting. However, I couldn't pass up the chance to parody Deadliest Warrior. Chop a zero off of the end if it makes you feel better, it won't change the percentages.

Also, before anybody jumps up, allow me to explain something: officially Kyrios doesn't have plasma engines in it's legs. It's only listed form of propulsion is GN Particles. According to season 1, episodes 1 and 3, however, this isn't the case. Kyrios can clearly be seen propelling itself using something that visually looks similar to the propulsion system used by a Flag which, for those curious, is a hydrogen-plasma engine. So that's what I went with. I'm also going to justify it by pointing to Kyrios' predecessor unit, Gundam Abulhool, which actually _did_ have plasma jets in the legs (in this case, it's openly stated that they serve to aide in disguising Abulhool's identity as a Gundam along with it's flight mode, which looks similar to an F-22 Raptor).

And with that, I take my leave for the rest of the year. If I managed to get you guys drooling for the next chapter (something that I hope I succeeded in doing), then I've done my job for the end of this year. It's a great opportunity to start 2011 on a great (and highly explosive) note.

Happy Holidays, and have an awesome, awesome New Year! I'll see you guys in 2011!


	6. Chapter Not 5: An April Fools Interlude

**Chapter 4.5: April Fools!**

April Fools! This chapter is currently on absent leave because writing at 3 AM is where my stupidity reaches it's zenith.


	7. Chapter 5: Winged Descent

**Chapter 5: Winged Descent**

A column of water erupted into the air as the Cherudim Gundam rocked from the near miss. It was flying parallel to the ocean at high speed, close and fast enough to cause the water to part underneath the Gundam as it turned its back to the sea and aimed its sniper rifle skywards. In the cockpit, Lockon held the rifle-shaped sniper module in his hands, lining up his shot and pulling the trigger.

A narrow, bright pink beam lanced out from the muzzle of the rifle, striking an A-Laws Jinx through the chest and head. Just as the mobile suit began to explode, Lockon quickly moved to his next target and downed it with a shot of similar accuracy.

In the cockpit, Lockon's orange Haro sat in its jack-in port, excitedly chirping, "Headshot! Headshot!"

"No flukes this time, Haro. Like I said before, right now we're being serious!" Lockon told the orange ball. The little machine's eyes blinked as it processed the information. Ever since the battle had started, Lockon had yet to miss.

"But I gotta say," Lockon muttered to himself as an orange particle beam impacted the water next to his Gundam's head. "Coming out here like this with an unconscious tactician and no plan really wasn't the best idea…"

Several thousand feet above Lockon, Tieria sat in his Seravee Gundam, letting his GN Field soak up the brunt of whatever it was A-Laws had decided to throw at him.

A Jinx charged him from the front, lance-first, causing Tieria to sigh in pity. This was the third fool who had decided that attacking a heavy-weapons Gundam from the front, and _alone_ to boot, was the best plan of action.

Tieria let him smash into Seravee's GN Field, watching as the thick shell of particles stopped the Jinx's lance in its tracks. The moment the pilot realized his momentum wouldn't carry him through, he immediately began to retreat. He wasn't quite fast enough. Before he could completely pull his lance back, Tieria had already leveled one of his handheld bazookas at the Jinx, dropped his protective field, and pulled the trigger.

The beam that erupted from the muzzle of his weapon swallowed the Jinx's upper half whole, shattering and vaporizing the pieces.

As he watched his downed enemy fall to the ocean below, Tieria spotted an incoming formation of Jinx's being led by an Ahead. Without waiting, Tieria attached the back-end of his handheld bazookas to the muzzles of his Gundam's shoulder cannons.

"Twin buster cannon, releasing compressed particles!" he called out to his allies as he pulled the trigger.

Tieria watched as the massive twin beams sped towards the formation. He made a disappointed sound when the mobile suits broke formation, easily evading the attack. Despite the setback, Tieria quickly manipulated Seravee's controls without losing stride, disconnecting his weapons from each other as his enemies closed the distance with his Gundam and began their attack. Three Jinxes charged him from the front and sides.

He deployed Seravee's entire arsenal, pointing all of his weapons at the incoming enemies. The muzzles of all six weapons glowed menacingly as Tieria sighed. _Here we go again._

Almost a mile to the east of Tieria, Allelujah was faring worse than even he could have expected. Ever since his other personality, Hallelujah, had "left," Allelujah had found that fighting had become quite a bit more difficult than last he remembered. Or maybe it was just from the fact that he'd been in a straitjacket and strapped to a chair for the last half-decade. Either way, it didn't change the cold, hard, truth that as he was now, even his own Gundam was outpacing him.

"It's not the machine's fault... My own abilities have just –" he started to mutter to himself before his Arios Gundam suddenly rocked from taking a direct hit. His opponent was a custom Ahead, designated _Smultron_, and inside the cockpit was…

"Marie!" he cried out over the radio, desperate to reach her.

The super soldier Soma Peries' response was an equally enthusiastic, if angry and threatening, "I thought I told you…_I'm NOT Marie_!"

The two super soldiers clashed in what quickly turned into a one-sided beatdown. Having lost his ability to use quantum brainwaves at the same time he had lost Hallelujah, Allelujah simply could not react fast enough to keep up with his opponent. He barely managed to avoid a few more direct hits as he flicked Arios into fighter mode, switching back only after he had put a fair bit of distance between himself and his opponent. The moment he switched back to mobile suit mode, he turned and opened fire with his twin-barreled rifle.

The weapon roared to life, sending a hail of glowing particle bolts towards Soma's machine. She easily weaved around the shots and closed the distance as she drew her beam saber. Allelujah stopped firing only to switch his rifle to the slower but more powerful single shot mode. The beam saber came forward in a thrust just as Allelujah pulled the trigger.

The two weapons clashed and explosively canceled each other out in a brilliant shower of glowing sparks and particles, if only for a moment. The beam saber suddenly burst through the glittering cloud, shearing the twin rifle in half on the way to its intended target.

Allelujah's right side was suddenly engulfed by sparks, smoke, and small explosions as the orange beam saber grazed the cockpit and buried itself up to the hilt in the Gundam's right shoulder, mere feet away from where he was sitting. He reflexively threw his right arm over his helmeted face, at the same time managing to reach up with his Gundam's left arm to firmly grab on to the Smultron.

"I won't let go of you again, Marie!" Allelujah declared as the two suits fell to the earth. Soma tried to free her machine, and when she couldn't, she could only grit her teeth and wait for her altitude to bottom out.

Down near the water's surface, almost a mile away from Lockon, a fierce duel was taking place. Setsuna and his new 00 Gundam were currently fighting off a single Ahead, a highly customized machine with a stylized samurai motif. Inside the Ahead Sakigake's cockpit, the man identifying himself as Mr. Bushido was quickly demonstrating why he had chosen his name.

Setsuna grunted from the effort of keeping pace with his opponent. Despite pushing himself to the limit, Setsuna could feel that he was slowly losing ground.

Sparks flew as the katana-shaped beam saber smashed into the 00's solid blades again and again. With a lightning-fast movement, the beam katana deftly removed the 00's left sword from the hand that gripped it.

Setsuna made a mad dash backward while taking the half-shields from their mounts under the GN Drives. He managed to put them together on the 00's now-empty left arm just in time to block another slash from his enemy.

There was an impatient "Hmph!" as Mr. Bushido gripped the beam katana with both of the Sakigake's hands and raised it above his head. He gave a vicious roar as he brought the beam saber down with full force, slashing the upper section of the 00's shield clean off. As the melted e-carbon fell away, Setsuna grimly acknowledged that there was really only one thing he could do to even the odds now.

"_Whatever you do, don't use Trans-Am!"_ Ian's words echoed in Setsuna's head. Ignoring the engineer's warning, Setsuna tightened his grip on the controls as he vocally activated the system with a shout.

"_Trans-Am!_"

The 00 Gundam's synchronized twin GN Drives began to whine as they brought their particle output to the max, saturating the 00's frame with particles and causing it to glow a familiar, fiery red. With his machine now performing at least three times past its normal specs, Setsuna quickly began to turn the tables.

The change did not go unnoticed by Mr. Bushido. He roared as he enthusiastically charged forward to meet the new challenge. "Finally, you've decided to get serious, _GUNDAM_!"

The Sakigake slashed as it closed the distance. Setsuna took advantage of his machine's increased speed, circling around his opponent before he had even finished his attack. Mr. Bushido quickly changed directions, gripping his sword with both hands as he rotated his machine while bringing his swinging his sword around. Rather than dodge, the 00 swung it's own sword even faster than before, sending it's opponent's left arm and sword flying into the air. The 00 quickly ascended high into the air to avoid a possible counterattack and switched it's remaining sword to rifle mode as it descended in a wide arc and began approaching the Sakigake from behind.

Mr. Bushido evaded, weaving back and forth as he made his retreat. Setsuna directed his Gundam forward at near-sea level, easily catching up to his retreating opponent, and raised it's sword for the coup de grace.

The blade never met its target. Warning lights and alarms suddenly went off inside the 00's cockpit as the Trans-Am system overloaded the Twin Drive system. The red glow faded, fire and smoke poured from both GN Drives as the synch gauges quickly fell to 0%. The now-inactive 00 Gundam lost speed and what little altitude it had left as it plunged into the ocean.

Setsuna looked up to see his opponent hovering in front of him holding his remaining beam saber to the Gundam's neck.

The blade was deactivated, much to Setsuna's surprise, and the Sakigake turned and flew off, unceremoniously kicking a plume of water over the Gundam as Mr. Bushido left his defeated opponent behind. Before Setsuna could breathe freely, he quickly realized that the remaining Jinxes were closing in. It appeared that mercy was at a premium today.

A brilliant blue beam suddenly came down from the sky like a bolt of lightning from the heavens, swallowing the Jinx it was aimed at whole. Another pilot turned his mobile suit to face the new threat.

Setsuna also turned his eyes skyward, trying to trace the beam back up to the source. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't see anything but clear blue sky. It wasn't until the next beam came down that Setsuna noticed something faintly glittering high in the sky above.

He reached out to his control panel and zoomed in on the object.

* * *

The bridge of the A-Laws carrier was a scene of vocalized chaos as Colonel Kati Mannequin made sense of the situation from her command chair.

"Units 7 and 15, lost! New contact detected approximately 75,000 feet above the combat zone!"

The colonel's hand balled into a fist as she scowled. _First a unit that can strike at orbital platforms from the ground, and now one that can strike at ground targets from extreme altitudes... I suppose something like this was inevitable…_

"Do we have an ID on it?"

Fingers energetically danced across a keyboard, accompanied by a symphony of beeps as the touchscreen registered the keystrokes. "We don't have an exact match, but the one that comes closest is file 227."

"227? The winged Gundam from four years ago?" the colonel wondered aloud. "It can't be. That Gundam was in our custody until it was reported destroyed at…" Her voice trailed off as her mind began racing.

"_Could it have been salvaged?"_ she thought to herself.

She pushed the detail out of the way for the time being as she began issuing new orders.

* * *

At over 70,000 feet in the air, the muzzle of the experimental GN Precision Launcher glowed menacingly as it began to recharge.

"00 still in danger! 00 still in danger!"

Sora looked down at the green Haro jacked into the port installed next to his right knee as it flapped its ears and blinked its eyes in time with its own speech.

"Not quite," Sora responded as he pointed. Seravee and Cherudim had begun pumping the area around the 00 with covering fire. "Good job keeping us nice and steady, just like in the sims."

"You're welcome! You're welcome!" it chirped excitedly, flapping its arm covers with similar enthusiasm.

Sora patted the little robot on the head as he tried to remember just why he had tried to refuse its company from Sherilyn.

* * *

"_It's the same one you used for the Dynames simulations!" she said with a ridiculous smile._

"_Okay, but I still don't see why I should take it. It seems to me like it would do more good here." Sora replied with an unamused look on his face._

_The Haro, which Sherilyn had apparently named A.C.E. – "It means 'Artificial Combat E-companion!" – had, among other things, it's name etched onto it's forehead and a habit of keeping itself firmly attached to the top of Sora's head._

"_We have plenty of Haros to spare here. Besides, didn't you see how useful he is when you did the sims?"_

"_Okay, but–"_

"_We've already installed a Haro jack into your Gundam's cockpit."_

_Sora growled as he rubbed his forehead._

"_Alright, I'll take him," he grumbled._

* * *

Sora pulled himself back to the present as he began to survey the battlefield below him. Even though the A-Laws force had been pushed away from the 00 thanks to the timely intervention of Tieria and Lockon, they were still throwing as much firepower at it as they could while taking evasive maneuvers.

"GN Precision Launcher, charge complete!" ACE chirped.

Another lightning-blue beam shot forth and barely missed one of the weaving and bobbing Jinxes, causing some of the pilot's wingmen to turn and try to find what was attacking them.

Sora's thumb worked the hat switch it sat on, quickly reacquiring his target. The radio suddenly beeped, jarring Sora's concentration as a communications line was opened. A female voice commanded, "We need to distract the rest of the enemies. Fire smoke and particle disruptor torpedoes into the enemy formation!"

A pair of torpedoes plunged into the sea in front of the Ptolemy where Sora lost track of them. Almost a second later, they jumped back out of the water right underneath the enemy and detonated, obscuring the battlefield with smoke and high-density particles.

Sora watched as dull orange lights flashed within the cloud as the A-Laws forces continued firing. After a few seconds, a bright white light flashed off in the distance, signaling the A-Laws retreat. Looking in the direction of the light, Sora saw the smoke trail of a signal flare and traced it back down to the carrier that had launched it. With the status of his launcher's charge confirmed by ACE, Sora aimed the weapon at the carrier and prepared to fire.

"Hold your fire!" a female voice commanded. Sora looked down at the window that had appeared to his side, showing the brunette woman he safely assumed was Sumeragi Lee Noriega, Celestial Being's tactical forecaster and mission commander. "They're already retreating. Our current priorities are to secure the 00 and then begin a search and rescue operation for Allelujah."

"Roger," replied Lockon, Tieria, and Sora before getting to the assigned task.

Sumeragi regarded the newcomer before she spoke again. "From your vantage point, did you manage to see where Allelujah went down?"

"Sorry, but I think I arrived a little too late to have that info."

The commander sighed in disappointment. There was never a restriction against hoping for a simple solution.

She remained silent before she continued and said, "Alright, bring Kyrios in and let's get you settled on the ship."

"With all due respect ma'am, I can still help with the search effort," Sora offered.

The commander took a moment to consider the offer before she spoke. "If you still have the strength then I won't stop you, but if we don't find anything in the next few hours then I want you on this ship and asleep in a bed with no questions asked. Clear?"

"Yes, ma'am."

"Good. Your search area is being drawn up and sent to you."

* * *

Four hours into the search, and still, no-one had found any trace of the missing Allelujah. The Ptolemy rose from its hiding place beneath the ocean, permitting Sora to land within the central hangar bay.

Ian approached the landed Kyrios as the hangar doors closed behind the Gundam.

"Welcome back, kiddo," he called as the pilot seat descended out of the Gundam's abdomen. "Have a nice trip?"

Sora gave him a pointed look as he said, "You never told me you built a fully functioning Gundam in one day."

Ian shrugged indifferently and said, "Chalk it up as one of my many talents. You're being assigned to room 9. Go get some sleep; we'll bother you in the morning."

Sora nodded while stifling a yawn. He pulled his bag out from behind the pilot seat and hefted it over his shoulder as he scooped up ACE from his jack in port and made his way to his assigned quarters.

Once he arrived, he stowed his pack in the locker set into the wall. After placing ACE on the desk next to the bed, Sora undid the upper portion of his pilot suit, pulled his arms free of the sleeves and plopped himself onto the bed and closed his eyes. He fell asleep in record time.

* * *

An urgent beeping yanked Sora from his dreamless sleep. He jerked upright, his right hand quickly, but clumsily reaching for where his sidearm was. His hand stopped halfway to its destination when he realized it was only his communicator ringing at him.

His eyes stung as he tried to rub the sleep from them. Giving up on making himself presentable, Sora instead made sure his end of the line was only transmitting sound before he answered.

"This is Sora," he answered as he lay his head back down.

"Sora," Sumeragi's voice said. "I know you're tired, we need to end this search before it goes on any longer. Can you get airborne in fifteen minutes?"

Sora suppressed a tired groan as he said, "Yes, ma'am."

"Good. We've managed to narrow down the search area since you were last out. I'll send the area you're to cover once you're ready to go."

The communication ended as Sora let out the groan he had been holding back. With some effort, he pushed himself out of his bed and checked the time.

_I've been asleep for five hours._

He vigorously shook his head in an attempt to shake himself back to awareness, suppressing the next groan as he pulled his suit back on.

_I can work on five hours._

* * *

The air rumbled as the fighter-mode Kyrios slowly made a low circle over one of the many small islands dotting the area he was assigned to search, the GNS Drive scattering its signature blue particles as it went. Sora tilted his Gundam to the side and scanned the ground as the island slowly rotated beneath him.

_Nothing…_

"ACE, is anything showing up on sensors?" Sora asked his Haro.

"Nothing's there. Nothing's there."

He pointed Kyrios over to the next group of islands as he contacted the Ptolemy. "This is Sora. Point four-two-six is clear. Moving on."

Shimmering plumes of hot air flared from his Gundam's plasma engines as Sora guided it towards his next destination and repeated the process. Circle, scan, report, again and again. Land on the ground and then rest awhile if necessary, and then back to the three-step grind again.

Sora made his latest report right before ACE's hourly announcement of the time.

"It's currently 0600 hours. 0600 hours," he chimed, flapping his arm covers like pendulums.

Sora released a quiet groan as he popped open a tube of the tasteless paste he had been fed when he first boarded the Ptolemy. As he ate, he tried to stretch as much as he could inside the limited space within the cockpit. When he found his body still sore and stiff, Sora looked down at the glittering surface of the water in an attempt to get his discomfort out of his mind. He quickly changed his mind as he realized, "Damn, he's screwed if he fell in."

Despite the fatigue, Sora pushed his Gundam forward. The twin plumes of hot air were joined by a cloud of blue particles as Kyrios soared towards the next set of islands.

"Lockon, here," the green-clad Meister announced as comm windows were opened. For some reason, Sora was detecting a hint of playful mischief in the man's voice. "Got something here I think you should all see."

The comm window went black as something shining in the corner of Sora's eye caught his attention. He looked over to the side to see the rainclouds from the night before had parted and become several shades lighter.

"Look. The sun's rising," he said as shining columns of light shone through the holes in the clouds, reflecting off of the gently cresting blue sea below it in a glittering dance of multicolored sparks. Unbidden thoughts of the tide lapping up against a white-sanded beach turned up in Sora's mind. He shook them from head and gave a low chuckle. He didn't need the imagery right now.

His Haro made its typical show of blinking its eyes and flapping its ears as it chirped, "Beautiful! Beautiful!"

In the next instant, Sora wasn't entirely sure if ACE was referring to the sunrise, or the image that had replaced Lockon's face.

Amidst the backdrop of blooming island greenery, bits of wrecked mobile suit, and the glowing rays of the rising sun were Allelujah and an unfamiliar woman standing about a head shorter than the orange-clad Meister, her face framed by long, silver hair. Though her face was not familiar to Sora, the green and black pilot suit she wore was. Surprisingly, it wasn't the woman's affiliation that had Sora the most shocked. Rather, it was the fact that the two were in each other's arms, their lips –

"Are they…" Sora began to mutter in disbelief. A closer inspection revealed that he was right. "They _are!"_

A wave of noise exploded over the radio so suddenly that it caused Sora to flinch when it happened.

He ignored ACE's teasing comments over his reaction as he tried to make sense of the chaos erupting over the comm network.

"OOOOOH! HE HAS A GIRLFRIEND!"

"He has a _what_?"

"How did that happen?"

"What has that boy been _doing_?"

Sora shook his head, raising his visor as he opened a private channel with Lockon.

"Well, congratulations on the chaos you've sown on the mothership," he said, away from the noise in question.

"I don't know what you're talking about," Lockon replied with mocking innocence. "The only thing I've sown is the seeds of love."

Sora chose not to respond to the statement as he pinched the bridge of his nose and shook his head. "You can talk to them. I'm heading back to the Ptolemy."

"Yeah, right," Lockon chuckled as he brought his Gundam alongside Sora's. "I'm not disturbing him."

Sora gave an amused "Hmph," and shrugged as he brought Kyrios back into the Ptolemy's open hangar.

"Actually, Lockon, you _are_ going to talk to them," Sumeragi chimed in. She had apparently managed to finally calm the ship's bridge crew down. "Sora's been in his cockpit for almost three days. Also, I need to have a private talk with him."

"Alright, alright," he sighed in defeat as he turned back towards the island.

Sora watched him go as he lined Kyrios up with the Ptolemy and steered his Gundam into the ship's waiting belly.

* * *

Sora sighed in relief as he stepped out from his Gundam's cockpit to the catwalk that had been extended in front of him, taking in the chance to fully stretch his muscles. He retrieved ACE from his jack-in port and, after ensuring the little robot was secured in the crook of his arm instead of hanging from the top of his head, began to make his way to his quarters.

Sora looked up to see Ian standing in the doorway, directing the swarm of Karels and multicolored Haros with the tablet in his hands. "I hope you remember the layout of the ship. You're meeting with Ms. Sumeragi will be in the war room in about thirty minutes. Oh, and leave your Haro here with the others."

Without argument, Sora rolled ACE towards them and called, "Play nice!"

As he left the hangar, he could hear the other Haros happily calling out, "Brother! Brother!" in their cutesy-robotic voices.

Sora took advantage of the half-hour break by first going to his room to change into his uniform, and then heading straight to the mess hall to grab a proper breakfast. He took his time eating, allowing his meal to take up a majority of the thirty minutes. Once he was done, Sora confirmed he had about five minutes left and made a beeline straight to the war room.

He passed through the door, and found a fully-uniformed Sumeragi accompanied by Tieria, still in his purple pilot suit, waiting near the opposite wall.

Sora moved to the center of the room and stood to, bringing his right hand up to his brow in a salute.

"At ease," the commander said.

The arm slowly went back down to Sora's side as he let his muscles relax. Silence followed as the commander and Tieria gazed at Sora, their faces unreadable masks. Tieria's right hand sat on his hip, near his sidearm.

Disregarding Tieria's defensive stance, Sora let his steel gray eyes meet with the golden amber ones of his new commander. That was one trace of his military training Sora wouldn't let go of as easily.

The silence continued for several more moments before it was finally broken by Ms. Sumeragi.

"Sora Museigen," she slowly let the name roll off of her tongue. "That's a good name. Only time will tell if it really fits you, though."

She spent a few more moments looking over her new charge before she finally said, "Alright, let's hear your story."

Sora quickly summarized his experience with A-Laws, quickly describing the massacres he had been forced to take part in, by both his superiors and himself, ending with his act of open defection at Colony Proud.

The commander's face remained unchanged as Sora spoke, and she allowed his speech to continue uninterrupted.

"Bringing down A-Laws is a noble enough cause, but what proof do I have that you won't suddenly turn on us? The ease with which you turned and killed your comrades is more troubling than reassuring."

"I openly defected from A-Laws. I have nowhere else to go. Also…," Sora pointed at his throat, where his explosive neck brace sat. "This should be proof enough."

Ms. Sumeragi's eyes narrowed as she let her them rest on the small silvery disk sitting on Sora's neck. She put her hand on her chin as she began thinking.

After spending almost a minute in thought, she raised her eyes to regard Sora and said, "Alright, I'll let you fight alongside us unrestricted for the time being. You're dismissed."

Sora saluted again, then turned and left the room.

As the door slid shut behind him, Tieria turned to his commander.

"Ms. Sumeragi, surely you –" he began to say before she cut him off with a wave of her hand.

"I know what you're going to say Tieria. The neck brace means nothing, right?"

"Yes. Veda is what triggers the detonation. Without it, Sora could easily find out he isn't truly bound just by accident!"

He waited for his commander's response. When it seemed that one was not forthcoming, Tieria began to speak again. He was cut off as the door opened and Ian stepped inside.

"So how'd it go?" he asked.

"I don't trust him," Tieria openly stated. "I won't trust my life on the battlefield to someone who can so easily stab a comrade in the back."

"He _is_ dangerous. Based on what the rest of the crew told me, his general demeanor suggests otherwise, but I agree that he is dangerous," Ms. Sumeragi concurred.

"Everyone is dangerous, in one way or another," Ian commented. "But that's not important right now."

"That's right," Ms. Sumeragi said. "Did you get what I asked?"

"Yup," Ian nodded as he opened the door to allow a green Haro with the letters "A.C.E." etched onto it's forehead to roll into the room. "I have the updated specs on Kyrios and also the 'key' to your problem."

"Alright. Send the specs to my terminal later. I assume this Haro is what you're referring to when you say 'key'?"

"That's right," Ian said as he picked up the Haro in question. "Watch carefully."

He held the Haro in front of his face and said, "Voice identification: Ian Vashti."

The Haro's eyes blinked once, and then a sheet of red light passed over Ian's eyes as the Haro performed a biometric scan.

"Identity confirmed," ACE said in a voice so completely different that it caught even Tieria off guard. This Haro spoke with a voice that was much deeper than that of a normal Haro, and in a slow, resolute tone that carried all the authority of a judge. It was a far cry from the voice normally used. Though the little robot's eyes continued to blink whenever it spoke, ACE no longer flapped his ears in time with his speech.

"Awaiting command."

"Explain objective," Ian said.

"This platform was created for the purpose of combat support, surveillance, and, if necessary, execution in regard to Gundam Meister Sora Museigen."

"Status?" Ian asked.

"Gundam Meister Sora Museigen is currently in neutral standing. Not enough evidence has been gathered to shift standing. No evidence has been gathered to suggest the necessity of rendering death. Surveillance continues."

"Thank you, ACE. That's all for now," Ian said.

"Acknowledged. Logging you out."

There was a pause, and then…

"Brothers are calling. Brothers are calling!" ACE said, now in the voice of a normal Haro, as he flapped his ears.

Ian opened the door and allowed ACE to leave the room and return to the hangar.

"I'll clarify, _just_ in case you didn't quite catch that," Ian said as he returned to where the other two were standing. "The Action and Combat Evaluator, or 'ACE' for short, is a custom Haro that, on the surface, performs all the functions of a regular Haro, including combat support for Sora while he's piloting Kyrios. On the inside, he's keeping discreet 24/7 surveillance on Sora, judging his standing with us based on his actions. If it becomes necessary, ACE will be the one to detonate Sora's bomb, though hopefully, it won't come to that."

"What an invasion of privacy," Ms. Sumeragi chuckled to herself.

"Actually, we're allowing him the privacy of his room. But that's only as long as ACE isn't in there with him," Ian corrected. "Naturally, Sora doesn't know that."

"I say we bug his room to hell and back and be done with it," Tieria said flatly. "Since ordering him to carry that Haro everywhere he goes is nothing but suspicious."

"Well, if he starts spending enough time in there without ACE we just might have to," Ian commented.

"I don't think it will come to that," Ms. Sumeragi suddenly said.

Ian gave her an inquisitive look. "Why's that?"

"I don't know if anyone else has seen it, or maybe it's just my imagination, but… There's something about his eyes."

Disbelief covered Tieria's face as he turned to his commander. "His _eyes_?"

"Oh, I see where this is going," Ian said as he nodded. "Does this have anything to do with that old saying? 'A soldier's eyes are his most prized possession' or however it went?"

Ms. Sumeragi nodded. "You're half right. Sora's lived a life of a soldier; that much is clear. His eyes have the same steel as you would expect from someone like that. At the same time, there's something else in there that seems… 'weary,' I think is the best word to describe it."

"Maybe it's his lack of a full night's sleep showing," Tieria said. "I'm pretty sure he only got five or six hours of sleep when you sent him back out to help search for Allelujah."

"Well, regardless, I think we should let the matter rest for now," Ian said. "Judging on how this conversation has been proceeding, I think it's a safe guess that we could sit here and talk about this until the end of the world if we really wanted to."

The other two agreed. Ms. Sumeragi went to her quarters. As she sat down at her desk and opened her personal terminal, she began pondering just how she would go about dealing with a "weary soldier".

* * *

**Author's Note:** Is it just me or are these chapters slowly getting longer and longer? Yup, they are. I'll try not to let things get quite as large as they did here, but no promises.

Well, I know this wasn't quite the explosive start to 2011 I said it would be, one of the main reasons being that nobody screamed "IT'S A GUNDAM!" before exploding. No, I'm kidding. Oh, and yes, I did indeed make Haro say "Headshot!"

Joking aside, it seems to me like that fight scene waaaaay up there at the top was a little on the dull side. The people I sent the chapter around to for previews seemed to think it was fine, so maybe I'm just being _really_ picky and self critical. Thoughts would be appreciated. Be nice! But be critical.

This chapter took a long time to write, mostly because, if anybody cared to check the calendar they'd see that January was three months ago. That's right, college has started up again. You all should know what this means. However, the main reason my writing came screeching to a painful halt was that my laptop died this past January (funnily enough, it happened right on the day before I was set to start classes again, and while I was in the middle of rewatching an episode of Gundam 00, no less) and I didn't have the funds readily available to do anything about it. Thankfully, the situation is now different. Being in such good spirits was what convinced me to haul myself out of bed at 3 AM on April 1st to do that April Fools gag one update ago.

So how do we proceed from here? You'll see.

The real story starts now. I'll see you guys at the next chapter.

**Anonymous Review Response Corner** (btw, yes I know I changed the name of this. Deal with it)

To the literally-anonymous reviewer (seriously, you didn't even attach a name): Bear in mind that Marie's defection didn't involve stabbing a wingman in the back. She just had a literal change of heart.


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